Double Dilemma
by Abbie1212
Summary: It's summertime at the mansion, and everything's about to go to pieces. Rogue is in love with an oblivious ? Wolverine, and the professor seems more worried about something that's about to blow up in all of their faces. What happens when a different Marvel face shows up to help them out? AU, everyone's alive, and everyone's got powers...Wolverine/Rogue/Stark..
1. Sad

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, Rogue, Wolverine, or any of the other characters (and later in the story I also don't own Iron Man, or Tony Stark)

A/N: So I thought about classifying this as a crossover, but I didn't think it would have enough Iron Mannishness in it, other than Tony himself so I figured I'd just leave it an x-men one all by itself. This is a Wolverine/Rogue/Stark story – which I realize is much more than a little bit different, but a story I wanted to tell… In Rogue/Marie's POV, unless otherwise stated. It's AU, everyone's alive, and everyone has their powers. Rated T for now, but it will most likely be changed…Let me know if you like it, so I'll know if I should continue….

Double Dilemma

Chapter One – Sad.

I was standing just outside the front door of the mansion, out in the sun, watching everyone play in the grass. It was summer time, so our school schedules were light, even Professor Xavier saw the merit and need for a break from learning when the weather was so warm. Training was still going on as usual, we had to stay sharp – it was just a lighter period of training. Some of the students and professors, the lucky ones - the ones whose parents either didn't know or didn't care their kids were mutants – went home to spend the summers with their parents, their friends, and their families. Others, like myself, weren't so lucky, but were not only permitted, but encouraged to stay at the mansion and continue training.

It was kind of sad to me, to see two small children, they must've been about six and five, playing with Storm in the yard. They were adorable, and cute – they were just babies. How could their parents let a little mutation make them give them up? They should have been home, playing with their mothers in their own backyards – but instead they were here, at the mansion playing with Storm. Storm was in charge of the younger mutants, like Mikey, and Reilly, the boy and girl she was entertaining out in the yard. They were too young to train for combat, but they were taught self-defense, and how to hide properly.

"Sad, isn't it, Kid?" My heart pounded a bit, I hadn't heard Logan coming up behind me.

That was one good thing about staying at the mansion during the summer. There were significantly less students there, which meant there were significantly less annoyances to Logan. Therefore, he stuck around a lot better.

"They're just little tykes, and their parents hand 'em over to Xavier," Logan shook his head, "Just because one can change forms, and the other can disappear. It's one thing to send 'em here to control their powers, and to learn to defend themselves – but it's another to just abandon 'em."

"Yeah," I said sadly.

"Hey, where's your little possy?" He asked.

"The last one of 'em went home today, Kitty's here somewhere, but-"

"I can't imagine you'd want to spend much time with her," He replied, "Ice-dork, the flame kid, and Jube left?"

"Why do you have to call him that?"

"Hey, Bobby's a nice kid – but he follows you around like a lost puppy," Logan smirked, "I could get rid of him for you…"

"I can handle him myself," I sighed, "And Bobby took the flame kid with him to spend the summer with his family. He offered it to me, but I didn't think it would send the right message."

"Smart girl," Logan replied and I nodded.

"Where's Jean? I haven't seen her around today?" I tried to keep my tone casual, like I could care less whether she was there or not.

"She and Laser-boy went into the mountains for their anniversary," Logan replied and I nodded, turning to face him.

"You're not still hung up on her, are you?"

"Why would I be?" He denied, and I almost believed him, almost, "She has her laser-boy and I have – well, I have just about every other woman I want."

"Just about?"

"Well the Lingerie models still manage to hide from me," He replied and I nodded, typical Logan, "Hey, I just finished fixing my bike, I think I'm going to go on ahead to the bar tonight, if anyone asks for me."

"You fixed _your_ bike?" I asked questioningly, last I knew he was just stealing Scott's when he wanted it.

"Well, I modified Summers'," He corrected himself and I rolled my eyes, "Well seeing as I'm teaching in the fall, my room and board's not an issue anymore. A few more fights and I'll buy myself a good one. Laser-Boy's is a bit too nerdy."

"How can a motorcycle be nerdy?" I asked as Logan opened the door to the mansion, holding it open for me as I walked by him.

"It is an accomplishment, kid," Logan smirked as we walked towards the kitchen.

"Rogue, Logan," Xavier seemed surprised to see us as he wheeled himself away from the open fridge.

"Need me to reach for something for ya, Professor?" Logan asked and Xavier shook his head.

"No, I'm quite alright," His reply was more than distracted, and his face was more than wrinkled with worry.

"Something up?" I asked him and he smiled, doing his best to erase the worry from his face.

"No, nothing to worry about just yet, Rogue," He replied and then smiled, adding only in my head, 'Don't be late this evening, I'm tired and I'd like to get to bed early.'

'Ok' I let my thoughts reply, and he wheeled himself out of the kitchen.

"Great," Logan said, as he reached into the back of the fridge and pulled out a beer he had hidden back there.

"Logan!" I was shocked, "You can't hide beer in the fridge!"

"Why not, you want one?" He asked and my eyes went wide as I shook my head, "I don't get it, kid."

"You don't get what?" I asked him as he let one claw come out to open his beer bottle – damn the way he did that was sexy.

"The professor trains you teenagers to fight, and enlists you guys into his little group – but he still won't let you guys drink?" He chuckled, "He trusts you with way worse than a little bit of alcohol."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," I replied, "The last thing they probably want is a bunch of drunk teenage mutants stumbling around – can you imagine John?"

"That the flame kid?"

"Yeah."

"Well that'd just be stupid," Logan replied, "I wasn't saying the ones with medical reasons not to should."

"Medical reasons?"

"What else would you call it?" Logan smirked, "Don't-give-that-kid-alcohol-or-he-might-kill-us-all?"

"In a big explosion," I added and Logan chuckled, I could tell we had the same mental picture.

John smirking as he acted all cool, taking a sip of one of Logan's beers and then exploding into a fiery ball of light. Then he would burst, and fire would go everywhere, ending up with the mansion going up in a mushroom shaped cloud.

"So what're you doing tonight, kid?" Logan asked, "I think I'm gonna pick up a fight tonight, wanna come along and watch?"

"I'd rather not," I said, I hated watching him fight.

The first time he asked me, I was thrilled, so excited that he would want me to go with him. He snuck me into the overage club, and I watched from a table while he fought, which was hard enough. The worst part was having to watch all the girls in barely anything flock to him as he went out of the ring. I remembered vividly the way that he had looked each one of them up and down, then bought several of them drinks, leaving me to sit in the corner and watch. He hadn't done it on purpose, he had no idea how I felt about him – how could he?

"Oh, C'mon."

"I'm underage."

"Barely," He replied, "You're twenty."

I was surprised he remembered my age, delighted too, but I couldn't let him see that.

"I have something to do tonight."

"What've you got, a hot date?"

"What if I did?" The words came out before I had even finished thinking them.

"Then I'd have to know who he was," Logan replied in a playful tone, "So I can ask him how it feels to be with someone he can't even touch."

Ouch. That stung, and there was no way of hiding how much. Logan's face dropped as soon as he had said it, he knew me and what I was like enough to know that he had gone way, far below the belt. Except he had no idea just how far. Bobby had left me for Kitty, he had said that it had nothing to do with my mutation – but it did. The only way I was still friends with him was that I knew that I hadn't really liked him anyways. Logan had been particularly pissed about it – when he came to comfort me, it wasn't said, but he had understood.

What he didn't know was that I was in love with him, and had been since the day that I had met him. He knew that when I was a younger teen I had harbored quite the crush on him, but who wouldn't? The beyond gorgeous, ridiculously buff, protective man that saved a young girl's life? Said young girl didn't stand a chance. But it was more than that. He was Logan, and I was me, there had always been something special between us. A certain understanding and underlying friendship, through which my school girl crush had turned to a deep, irrevocable love for the man. To hear him say such a comment to me, it was like he had drawn his claws and raked them across my heart.

"Nice," I checked out of my own body, so that I wouldn't cry in front of him.

"Oh, c'mon, Marie," He replied, realizing what a monumental jackass he had been, "I didn't mean it, I was only teasing you."

"I'm going to go take a nap," I replied, ignoring his half-assed apology.

"Marie, relax," Logan could tell I was right on the edge of wanting to give him a hug, a huge life-sucking hug – how could he possibly be such an ass? "Please don't be mad. I'm sorry I was stupid enough to say something like that. It was careless."

Wow, a real apology? From the Wolverine? He must feel awful. Good.

"It's ok, Logan," I said, feeling bad about him feeling bad – it took a lot for him to feel bad.

"You're still mad."

"I'm not mad."

I'm heart broken.

"Oh, c'mon chin up," He replied.

I left the kitchen before another word could be said. I started off in the direction of my room, but then changed it abruptly to head towards the library. I walked in, and Xavier was sitting over in the corner, buried in a lot of old looking books, in front of a desktop computer, with a laptop open to his right. He was clearly deep into his research, and I had spent enough summers at the mansion to know that the summer was when Xavier did most of his research. There were only a few distractions, and he didn't have to deal with a normal class schedule. I left him alone and headed towards the back of the library.

That was where I found my favorite, perfectly under stuffed armchair. I sat right down and opened up my book that I kept stashed on the shelf right beside it. There were few books in that library that I hadn't read. Being at the mansion so much, and ending up with so much down time, I had read through just about every book I had come across that interested me. Jean, who organized the books when she was there was gone - so I didn't have to worry about anyone putting it back to its normal space for a while.

Once the sun was starting to go down in the sky, I realized it was just about dinner time, and I put my book back into my chosen hiding place. I was walking down the hall towards an alternate route to the kitchen. The less time I had to spend with Logan, the better. If given enough time, the comment would be able to fade and we would be able to go back to being us, and back to having our weird dynamic. But I knew his comment would be echoing in my head for a while, was that enough of a reason for Logan to never love me the way that I loved him? Was he that physical of a person, a lover, that he couldn't handle it any other way?

My head told me that if this was the case, then he wasn't worth it. That was what the strong woman would say right? My heart, on the other hand, was threatening to stop beating. I was such a sad excuse for a person - Was this really how it was supposed to be for me? To love this man with everything that I had, only to be rejected because of a little mutation? It was almost as pathetic as Mikey and Rielly's parents just abandoning them for their little mutations-

"Rogue, move out of the way please," Xavier said as he came out of nowhere.

Crap, had he been listening in?

"What?" I looked over as he wheeled by me towards the front door that I had apparently been passing.

He opened the door, and there was a man standing before the two of us. He was average height, but that was about the only average thing about him. He dark hair, and sunglasses on, a goatee that made him look like some sort of god, and a muscular structure. He pushed up the shades to reveal sharp, beautiful brown eyes. He looked seriously at Xavier.

"Tony Stark," Xavier greeted him, "Thank you for coming."


	2. Avoidance

Double Dilemma

Chapter Two – Avoidance

Professor Xavier gave me a little nod, and I took the hint that he and Stark had a private matter going on. Damn, Tony Stark was much cuter in person, Jube was going to be pissed that she had gone home. She had been drooling over him for quite some time, following what he was doing all the time too. I smiled a little to myself, then headed to dinner. No one knew that Stark was here, and I assumed the professor had asked him to come at dinner time so that he could keep him a secret for at least a little while. I decided to keep my mouth shut, and I figured the Professor might appreciate it.

Once I reached the dining room, I grabbed a little bit of food, too upset to have my normal appetite. I found a little table in the back corner, and watched everyone as the poured in through the backdoor from the backyard grounds. Suddenly, there were too many people in the dining room, and I decided to take my dinner into the kitchen to eat by myself at the island. Logan was busy helping Storm distribute the food, and wouldn't have noticed me slipping by in the crowd of students who were looking for their dinners.

Usually, I would help them, I was the oldest "student" that remained at the mansion for the summers. I had spent last summer and the school year before that doing private lessons with the professor so that I could begin teaching a beginners training class, and officially joining the x-men. The only reason I still considered myself a student for the summer was my "special" meeting with the professor three nights a week, and my training. X-men never stopped training, in fact I had a training session in the morning, with Logan. So I wouldn't be able to avoid him forever.

I was finishing my dinner when Logan walked in, carrying a large plate of food.

"Oh, hey kid," He said casually, trying not to be awkward – but he was failing.

"Hey, I was just about done," I replied, getting up and getting rid of my trash.

"C'mon kid, don't be like that," He said, "C'mon, come with me tonight – it'll be fun."

"She can't tonight, Logan," Professor Xavier replied for me as he rolled on into the kitchen, "She has something she's doing with me tonight. And you do too, I was hoping you didn't have too much planned."

"Nothing big, Professor," Logan replied, "What did you have in mind? You want me to do the leg work for some new project?"

"Ah, you could put it that way," He replied smugly, "I just thought that you would be a good fit to be a guide to a visitor that's come to help us."

"Why me?" Logan asked, "Rogue or Storm are a whole hell of a lot better at rolling out the welcome wagon than me."

"Well," The professor said as Stark walked in the door.

"Oh, no," He said, "This? I'm all set to help you guys out – but setting me up with Wolfy over there. No offense, I'm a huge fan – it's just I'm not really into whole big sweaty muscular clawed thing. I'd be much more comfortable with Storm? I think is what you call her? Or - Hi, Tony Stark, but you know that, don't you?"

"Rogue," I went to shake his hand and he took it, kissing the back of my gloved hand charmingly.

"Why can't Rogue show me around?" He asked the professor as he dropped my hand, the professor exchanged what could be misconstrued as a simple exchanged looks with Logan.

"Fine," Logan replied audibly to their silent conversation.

"Come along, Rogue," The professor wheeled out of the room and I followed him to his office.

I sat down in my usual spot on his couch I pulled off my glove and relaxed a bit as the professor settled in behind his office.

"Are you ready, Rogue?" He asked politely, and I nodded – bracing myself.

This was the summer I was going to do it, and the professor had very graciously agreed to help me out. I was going to control my skin, I wanted to be able to touch people, and I was sick of wearing so many layers all the time, especially in the summer. The last day of classes I had asked the professor to help me out, and he had set me up with a schedule of coming to his office after dinner three times a week. He would help me sooth my mind, and occasionally I could feel my skin relaxing. When tested, I would lightly touch the professor. The most I had made was very slowly sucking the life out of him, rather than just doing it slightly quicker.

"Have you been doing your exercises on the nights that we don't meet?" He asked and I nodded.

"Every night before I go to bed."

"That's very good," He replied, smiling, "I genuinely think that you will be able to master your power. From what I can understand, it is very much a mind over matter situation. Your anxiety level when it comes to your mutation will not help you in the case of trying to control it."

"Ok," I replied, and he nodded.

"Close your eyes, Rogue," He smiled kindly, and I closed my eyes, trying to go to a peaceful place.

Of course, as soon as I tried Logan's voice was echoing through my head, joined only by my own insecurities. I tried to combat it, Logan making the crack about having a man that couldn't touch me.

"That's enough, Rogue," The professor said, I opened my eyes to realize that he had long since pulled out of my head, "We won't be able to continue the lesson tonight. You're much too on edge, darling."

"I'm sorry, Sir," I replied and he shook his head patiently.

"It's quite alright, Rogue," He replied, "It seems it isn't nearly your fault, but that of a certain Wolverine friend of yours."

"When did you stop listening?" I asked nervously.

"I only listened long enough to hear the remark from your friend," He said kind as ever, "It was clear to me immediately, such a careless remark from someone who means so much to you would have trouble calming yourself down."

"Professor, why would he say something like that?" I asked curiously for insight, and the professor shrugged.

"It could be anything," He replied, "But most likely, when speaking of the wolverine, he bites back when he feels he's been attacked. I assume he realized he had gone too far, and apologized?"

"He did," I replied, "But what did I sat to attack him? We were joking around and then all of sudden he…"

"I do not know, Rogue," He replied.

"Of course you do."

"I do not wander into the minds of this mansion uninvited," He replied, and I nodded.

"I know," I replied, and he seemed reasonably satisfied with that, "So why is Stark here, if you don't mind me asking, professor?"

"He'll be spending some time here updating our systems," He replied, "I've asked him to take a look at just about everything from security to our training rooms. Plus, having him hanging around for the summer may come in handy."

"He's staying the whole summer?"

"He's here until his job is done," He replied cryptically.

"You're not going to give me anything more, are you?" I asked and he just smiled smugly.

"No, I don't think you expected me to either," He replied, "But, I am going to give you some homework for tomorrow."

"And what is that?" I asked.

"In addition to your usual exercises," He said, "I want you to try and shed some layers. It's summer, relax, Rogue. Your skin will not be able to relax enough if it doesn't see the light of day."

"Ok," I replied, and he nodded, "That will be it for tonight, Rogue. Don't worry too much about your exercises tonight – just try and let the wolverine's comment out of your head, ok?"

"Ok," I replied, and headed off to bed.

The next morning I woke up early, and went down to have breakfast before the crowd. I had training at nine, with all of the other mutants about my age, which meant Kitty, and Warren for those who had stayed the summer. It was a small training, and Kitty was very much the outsider. I prayed to God that Warren, my friend would be able to block both Kitty and Logan, who was our combat teacher. Warren usually did a good job distracting Kitty so she couldn't get too near to me, and then Logan would assign what was going on, then spend the time with me. That was what usually made me love training: I got to kick ass, and got what seemed like Logan's undivided attention. Well, maybe today would be ok – If I just did my best to forget what had happened. Survival.

"Morning," Warren smiled as he met me halfway to the danger rooms.

"Hey," I gave him my best fake smile – but luckily he just let it slide.

"So what's ol' Wolverine got in store for us today?" He asked me, usually I knew.

"I don't know."

"He didn't tell you? I thought he told you everything."

"Well he doesn't."

"Whoa, you guys get into a fight or something?" He asked, "Lover's Quarrel?"

"Shut up, Warren."

"I will do no such thing," He replied, "If you don't make a move – I will."

"Seriously? I'd like to his reaction to that," I smiled a little bit, "And exactly what kinda move could I make? I can't even touch him."

"With your body? The way he looks you up and down?" Warren teased.

"He does not."

"Honey, he does."

"You may just be the best gay best friend in existence," I replied, and he smiled.

"What else am I here for?" He said, "Just remember you're the only one who knows…"

"You're the only one who knows about Logan."

"Everyone knows about that," He replied, "Except him."

"You're the only one I really talk to about it," I replied, "And I think people tend to assume about you."

"Assuming isn't knowing."

"Would it be so bad if they did?"

Warren didn't respond, and in fact didn't say anything else all the rest of the way to the danger room. I felt bad for him, we had talked about it before. His reasoning for not letting anyone know was that he was already a "freak" due to his mutation. His reasoning was that his mutation was strange enough, he didn't need anyone thinking he was any "freakier" or stranger than he was. I had told him that that was ridiculous, but when and if he came out was not my decision or my job to decide. My job was to love my friend, and be there when he needed me. But, I could see the pain in him, keeping it locked up. Then, I'd see the happiness when he was just with me and he could be himself.

We walked into training and Kitty was already sitting in the booth, waiting. We came in and Warren dutifully went right up to her and started chatting away, while I went over and sat quietly a little ways away from them. I looked up at the clock, we had been a few minutes late – but Logan was always late to morning trainings. He wasn't much of a morning person.

"Mornin," Logan said less than enthusiastically as he walked in.

"You seem cheerful this morning," Warren had already stepped into his surly straight mask.

The reason for Logan's unhappiness waltzed right through the door just behind him in the form of Stark. He smiled playfully, clearly Logan was still set up taking him around – showing him the ropes. No wonder Logan's boxers were in a knot – he absolutely hated who he would refer to as 'people like Stark'. People the world just kind of handed things to.

"Good morning, all," He smiled at me, Kitty looked like him walking in meant she'd won the lottery – he didn't notice, "Sunshine over here's just showing me around – no need to act differently than you normally would."

"Metal-Face here's here to observe," Logan told us, "The Professor wants him to see what he can do about upgrading our systems for us. Making things more life-like and such, get you guys better training."

"Metal-Face? Really? It's Iron Man, actually," Stark replied, stepping closer to Logan, "'Metal-Face?' Well, I'm sure there's no need to point this out, but that's more of what you are. Isn't it? Adamantium, right? Not to mention the healing powers, I'd love to take a look at some of your blood—"

"Get in line," Logan mumbled under his breath.

Warren turned and smiled at me, chuckling as Logan and Stark stare each other down for a second. I was nervous – they'd tear each other apart before the day was over.

"The three of you, into the danger room for a warm up," Logan peeled his eyes from Stark's to look over at us, "Bring him with you."

"Me?" Stark replied and Logan nodded.

"I figure you can get a better feel for it if you get in there yourself," He replied and Tony nodded, pushing a button on his metal bracelet.

"Good idea, Blades, we don't all come with our super powers built in," Stark said as his suit popped out of the bracelets, coding him in his weapon laced shell.

"It's hand to hand combat," Logan told him, "No weapons, you'll destroy the chamber."

"Oh," He replied, "Well for protection then. Unless you want to leave this face up to Angel-boy? Something tells me the ladies will disapprove of that."

Needless to say, training was particularly entertaining that morning. I had never understood Stark's charm before. In interviews and speeches and things that Jube had made me pay attention to – he had always seemed so stuck up and sarcastic. In person, actually realizing how quickly his brain worked, there was something attractive to it. There was definitely something attractive to a mind so highly functioning that he could come out with such things so quickly. I mean, there was no arguing his genius. Maybe that was just what happened to people who were rocket scientists since infancy. They became so bored with everyday things that they didn't have enough to do constructively with their brains.

Logan had left training with us, and left Stark to work his magic with the electronics. He had said just as we were leaving that he wanted to do a bit of snooping around to see what he was dealing with before he could figure out how to make it better, which he could 'definitely do' he just had to know where to start. I walked with Warren back up into the mansion portion of the school, avoiding Logan who was a few feet behind us. When Warren broke to go to his room and clean up, I nearly bolted to my room.

I took a shower and cleaned up the sweat from training, then stood in my room in my towel. I kept thinking about what the professor had said about letting my skin breathe a little bit more. But, I couldn't risk hurting anyone. I couldn't control my powers any more than I could a couple weeks ago when I first went to the professor. With little ones like Reilly and Mikey running around, I had to be careful. I went to my dresser and put on my bikini – then threw on my usual get up before heading out to the grounds.

It was a hot summer day, and the Professor and McCoy had taken some of the school age kids to have some fun off campus for the day. I believe they had taken them to the lake for the day. Storm was watching the younger kids, as per usual, and I snuck out to the backyard, just into the woods to lay out a towel. Then, stripped down to my bathing suit and laid out in the sun. The sun, light breeze, and everything else felt weird to my flesh. I knew the Professor was right – I needed to get used to it if I was ever going to be able to control my power, I could feel my power rippling as the wind hit me. Soon I was able to calm down enough to fall asleep, in the sun – and woke up to a whistle.

"Soaking up some sun there, Rogue?" Stark was just about standing over me.

"I thought Wolverine was supposed to be showing you around," I replied, trying to cover up.

"Well he was clearly keeping me from some of the best views," He commented, smiling charmingly at me, "Sunshine went into the mansion for a break. He told me to wander around if I wanted. So I was taking a lap around the area, and spotted you."

"From?"

"The sky," He replied, "The fancy suit, it lets me do that. So what're you doing out here? All alone? Away from everyone? Showing off some serious poisonous skin…"

"I'm working on trying to tame it," I told him, because who cared, "Don't tell anyone. The professor thought it'd be a good idea to let my skin get used to being in the open."

"Secret's safe with me," He smiled, then quipped, "That much skin? And Xavier didn't stick around to watch you himself?"

"Well, that and I figured a nice tan might make me feel better," I admitted, "I think he was thinking shorts and a t-shirt."

"Hmmm, well it really is a shame to cover up a body like yours the way you do all the time. There might be a little more incentive than the professor's wallet to stick around after all."

A/N: So, there's chapter two, hope you guys enjoyed it (Thanks for the reviews for chapter One)... and as you guys might be able to tell, things'll be steaming up pretty quickly… Leave me a review, and I'll update as soon as I can :)


	3. Confusion

Double Dilemma

Chapter Three – Confusion

I sat on my bed that night trying to clear my head. I had skipped dinner, and was trying to do some extra work on my powers. The Professor had given me a weight ball that would deflate when I touched it – so I could try and work on my powers by myself. I took a deep breath and tried not to worry, while focusing in on keeping my powers in check. When I thought I was ready, I reached over and picked up the ball. I smiled, for just a few minutes –nothing happened. Then, just as the smile started to form on across my face, it began to deflate. I dropped it, and it began to inflate again as it hit the ground.

I had to get out of my room, so I walked out of my room and headed down towards the grounds. It made me so angry, the way the professor explained it – it should be much easier controlled. I got out to the front yard, and it was dark – I had passed some of the students playing a game in the common room with Storm, Stark, and Warren. I managed to get out without anyone seeing me, or at least I thought I had. I sat down on the bench for a few minutes, a couple tears had been shed – and all of a sudden someone was sitting down next to me.

"Hey," Stark said as he sat down, "There's a bunch of people inside playing some sort of game, seems pretty lame… some weird version of charades… but – What's up?"

"Nothing," I wiped away my tears and he smirked.

"Well that's a downright lie," He replied, "There's stars, and the atmosphere, and – hey look a plane."

I chuckled a little bit.

"But that's not exactly what I meant," He continued, "I meant I was wondering what was wrong, so much so that you decided to come out here and cry rather than join the game when you passed it. But I'm assuming you knew that's what I was asking, because I assume you have adept social skills, perhaps a little lower than the norm due to other factors, but still quite acceptable. But I'm willing to bet you being upset means the whole trying to control the whole skin thing isn't going well? – I'm just spit balling here, you can stop me any time."

"It's just so frustrating," I replied, "The reason I don't usually play the games is because I'm terrified I'll brush one of the little kids by accident. I just want to be able to live without having to worry about hurting people, and hug people…"

"Touch me," He said, offering up his arm, "C'mon just a little poke. See if you can hold it back."

"No."

"C'mon, what could it hurt?" He asked.

"You?" I was terrified – he was nuts.

"Just a little touch."

"You're not going to let up, are you?"

"Just a few seconds," He replied, and I rolled my eyes.

I de-gloved my hand, and let the very tip of my finger brush his arm. I retracted my hand as soon as his face began to go a little pale – putting my glove right back on.

"See that wasn't so bad," He said once he recovered, then suddenly he stood up.

"What're you doing?" I asked and he held out a hand to shush me.

He tapped his bracelets like he had earlier on in the day, and suddenly he was standing in front of me in his suit, helmet up. He turned back around, and opened his arms up.

"C'mon."

"Seriously?" I smiled lightly.

He smirked as he sat down.

"C'mere," He pulled me into his metallic arms and I smiled.

"Thanks for this," I said and he chuckled, "I mean, you hardly know me."

"See, that's where you're wrong," He replied.

"Oh?"

"Well see I do my homework," He teased, "I know your real name's Marie D'Ancanto, but you don't seem to let people call you that. You're originally from Louisiana, but you ran away after a certain incident with some hick teenage boy. You're generally a loner, but I don't think that's really you – I think it's that you're afraid, hence the sunbathing in the middle of the woods."

"Why're you such a smart ass?"

"It's part of my charm," He quipped, "Feeling any better? Because I know I am."

"I should head back in," I said, "That way I can work on 'the whole skin thing' a little more before I go to sleep."

"Ok," He hopped up as I stood, letting his suit disappear, "Mind if I walk you in?"

"I'm not going to stop you."

We reached the door and I opened it, and then held it open for him, he ducked in before me.

"Ah, Good night, Rogue," He replied.

"Night," I said and he took off towards the guest rooms, where I assumed he was staying.

"Out for a midnight stroll with Stark, huh?" Warren said, coming around the corner into a doorway near the stairs.

"He was just being nice," I rolled my eyes as he followed me up the stairs.

"Stark isn't just _nice_ to women," He replied as we reached the hallway, "Damn, why're you so lucky? You got two fabulous looking men on that tail."

"Would you stop it?" I asked, stopping outside my room, "You know why I was so pissed with Wolverine? He was being a jackass about no guy ever wanting me because of my skin. And Stark? He's just got too much time on his hands, I'm not straight forward, I'm just a puzzle to him."

"Wolverine said that?" Warren looked murderous, "I will kill him."

"Don't, he let it slip – but you understand now?" I asked, "I'm safe, to both of them – Stark's gone in a couple months, and Wolverine knows all he has to do is show up and he'll get someone who cares about him. Now, I want to go to bed."

Warren rolled his eyes.

"Good night."

"See you in the morning."

I went inside and got into some sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt to go to sleep. I was about to crawl in for the night, when there was a knock on the door.

"Warren," I mumbled under my breath as I opened the door.

"Hey, Kid," Logan was standing on the other side of the door, my favorite burger place's take out in hand, "You skipped dinner – thought you might be hungry."

"Thanks," I said, stepping aside so he could come in.

"You're not still angry, are you?" He asked.

"No, I'm not still angry with you Logan," I replied as he shut the door behind himself.

"Good, because if you were still mad I would have to use your favorite as a bribe," He smiled playfully, going to hand me the burger, "But since your not…"

"Thanks, Logan," I smiled, sitting on my bed to eat and he sat at the foot of it.

"No problem, kid," He replied, picking up the remote, and flipping the TV on.

"Make yourself at home, Logan," I commented, but he didn't seem to catch the sarcasm as he leaned back.

"Move over, Marie," He set his head on the pillow, neck angled up at the TV up on my bureau.

"You wanna fry too?"

"No, those are yours," He said, "The TV in my room's broken."

"What'd you do to it?"

"Had a nightmare last night," He said casually.

"Care to share?"

"Nothing, I was just worried – about things when I fell asleep, that's all."

"Worried, you?"

"I could go use the TV downstairs…" He grumbled.

"No you can't," I said, looking at what he was watching, some car shop show, "Storm's having a slumber party with the little kids – they're watching a movie."

"You mind, kid?" He asked as I finished my burger, and threw out my trash.

"Fine," I said, crawling into bed, he shifted so I could get under the covers, I shut off the light, "Shut the TV off when you go."

"Will do, Kid," He replied and I shut my eyes and went to sleep.

I woke up the next morning to the sun streaming in through the window onto my face, and noise coming from the morning news on TV. I groaned, rolling over. Typical Logan, not remembering to shut the TV off – HOLY HELL. Logan was still lying where he had been when I had fallen asleep. He must've fallen asleep watching TV the night before. Damn he was attractive, I sat up in bed, watching him sleep. God, he was gorgeous. And all I could think of was how much I wanted to hold him, wanted to be lying in his arms.

Then I caught a look at the clock – I was going to be late for breakfast with Warren. I took a deep breath, I hated the idea of having to wake Logan. I went into the bathroom and took a shower, then got ready and dressed in there. I came back out and Logan was still sleeping.

"Hey, Logan," I said, just above a whisper as I tossed my pillow at him, "Logan!"

"What, huh?" He jerked awake, "Ah, I'm sorry, Marie."

"It's fine, it's not like you shredded my pillows or anything," I said, "I just have to get to breakfast with Warren."

"Rogue! Breakfast time!" I could hear Warren outside the door.

Logan shot me a look, then I smirked.

"C'mon, don't," He whispered, "Marie-"

"How the hell are you going to get out of here?" I hissed back and he shrugged.

"I'll go after you two leave." He whispered back.

"And can I borrow that book you were reading?"

"C'mon in," I replied, opening the door.

"Oh, hey Wolverine," He said, he seemed surprised to see Logan standing in the middle of my room – at nine-thirty in the morning.

"Hey," Logan said, "I was just coming by to see if Rogue wanted to have some breakfast, but apparently you beat me to the punch – I should get going."

He left the room faster than Warren or I could open our mouths to speak.

"What was that?" Warren said, surprise and happiness for me spreading quickly across his face as the door shut.

"He fell asleep in here last night."

"I got that," He replied, then smirked, "Evening strolls with Stark, sleepovers with Wolverine…"

"Both completely innocent circumstances," I said defensively as I handed him the book he wanted, "Wolverine brought me a burger, he noticed I go to dinner. He had a nightmare and broke his TV the night before last, so he was watching it in here, I went to bed, he fell asleep. Stark just felt bad that I was upset –"

"Stark nearly body checked me to run out after you," Warren revealed and I glared at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"Don't worry, no one else saw," He filled me in, "But he took off after you."

"That's weird," I said as we walked out into the hallway, I closed my door behind us.

"So is Wolverine off the hook?"

"He brought me a peace-cheeseburger," I said, and Warren raised his eyebrows, "I can't stay mad at him…"

"You're sick," He replied.

We got down to breakfast and I had just filled my plate and turned around when the professor wheeled in. Warren and I were just about to figure out where to sit when the professor stopped in front of us.

"Warren," He looked less than of normal cheerfulness, "I was wondering if I could borrow you today."

"Right now?" He asked

"I'm sorry, I'd love to let you eat – but I don't think there's enough time," He said cryptically.

"Ok," Warren said, and followed him out of the kitchen.

I took a deep breath, it was Saturday, which meant it was a day off from training. I went and sat near the big picture window. I was about to dig into my omelet when Tony walked into the dining room with a plate of food. He spotted me immediately, and smiled – making a b-line directly for the table I was sitting at, alone.

"Doesn't anyone here believe in Saturday morning cartoons?" He asked, looking around at everyone eating.

"I think there's a group of kids that watch them after breakfast," I said thoughtfully and he chuckled as he sat down.

"But seriously, you guys don't train on Saturdays, right? So why not sleep in?"

"Some do, but most of us are on a schedule – the two days off doesn't really click with our internal alarm clocks," I cut off a piece of omelet, "Besides, the professor might need us for something."

"Like your winged buddy?"

"You saw him?" I asked.

"Talking with Xavier out on the front lawn, looked serious," He replied and I nodded, "But honestly, what's their to do here on a Saturday?"

"There's plenty," I replied, "You can fit in some extra training, or relax, I usually do something with a friend or tw or train."

"It seems like you train all the time," He said, and I nodded, "Well since your friend's away, why don't you entertain me for the day?"

"I was planning on doing some training," I replied and he nodded.

"You mind if I help?" He asked, "It must be dismal doing it yourself. How about out on the front lawn before lunch?"

"I don't know," I said into my food.

"C'mon, it'll be fun," He tried to convince me, "I think it'd be a wonderful way for you to spend your day."

"You're flirting with me," It was more of an observation than anything else.

"Apparently not very well."

"Don't flirt with me, Stark."

"Tony," He corrected, "And why not?"

"Because, we both know it's not worth it," I said as Logan walked in, a plate in each hand.

"Not worth it because you're into someone else? Because I think you're into me – so that doesn't really compute," He said, "Or not worth it because of some other reason, like you thinking that you'll never be able to control yourself?"

I didn't answer, I didn't have to. He, very kindly, dropped the conversation as soon as Logan sat down next to me, across from Tony.

"So, Rogue, what're we doing today?" He asked me as he bit into some sort of large breakfast sandwich he had made himself as part of his breakfast.

"You know, we were just discussing that," Tony interjected, "And we were thinking we'd do a little training on the front lawn. It's beautiful out."

"Really?" Logan looked to me, as if he was just waiting to ask him to rescue me.

"Well I told him I was thinking about training a little while, and he offered to help."

"Be careful, sometimes she fights dirty," Logan teased.

"Kinda hopin' for that, actually," Tony retorted, and Logan's face hardened.

The rest of breakfast was relatively silent, until Tony finished eating, got up – and motioned for me to go with him. I said goodbye to Logan, and got up and headed out to the front yard grounds with him. He didn't suit up.

"C'mon, suit up," I told him, "Let me dodge some bullets."

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," He replied and I just waited for him to continue, "I was planning on playing the dummy, or more preferably just following whatever work out you were thinking of."

"I usually jog about eight miles in the morning," I replied, and he nodded.

"Let's do it," He said and I chuckled.

"Ok."

We jogged to about a fourth of my route, and I noticed that Tony was starting to drag. I smirked to myself, there was no way he was used to physical exercise, at all. That's what he had his suit for. I couldn't help but notice just how amazing he looked, struggling to keep up with me, the smirk on his face and the sweat on the neckline of his t-shirt. I turned around, not wanting him to hurt his pride at all and headed back towards the mansion.

"That wasn't eight miles," He pointed out as we walked back up the front lawn towards the mansion.

"I didn't want you to get too tired," I replied and he chuckled.

"I coulda made it," He bluffed, and I just sort of looked at him, "I was just worried about you not making it. You sure you do eight every day?"

I chuckled.

"Hey, how was the run?" Logan was standing up on the front porch, and it seemed like he had been waiting for us.

"Good," I replied.

"We had to cut it short, Rogue here got a little tired," Tony said matter-o-factly and Logan gave a suspicious nod, "Now, I'm going to go snag a shower, unless you'd like to join me?"

I chuckled, but shook my head.

"Shame," Tony smirked, "I have something I wanna work on after that, so I'll see you both at dinner?"

"Yup," I said and he smiled at me, heading into the mansion.

"Why you hanging out with him, Marie?" Logan asked as soon as he was gone, and we were alone.

"I don't know," I replied, except I did, "Why do you care?"

Except I did know. He was charming, he was cute, and he was showing interest. He was a nice change from just trailing around after Logan, who would drag me around to everything he wanted to do, and occasionally throw me a little bit of hope – only to crush it later. Actually, my relationship with Tony was a complete one-eighty from my relationship with Logan. A guy who'll show interest and make an effort to do the things that I wanted was appealing.

I felt an instant pang of guilt. I was starting to like Tony, but it was impossible to know whether it was because I liked him, or simply because I was tired of waiting for Logan. And what did that mean about me? I had been in love with Logan for so long, was it even possible for me to move on? How was that fair - to either of them? If I was in love with Logan, wasn't I supposed to stay in love with Logan, no matter what? How would it be if I was able to let myself fall for Tony? Tony had himself a bit of a reputation for womanizing, but I was far too curious to wonder about that. I was still perplexed. What would it be like to actually like someone who liked me back? Was I already there?

"Just be careful around him, ok Marie?" Logan said, breaking my train of thought, "There's just something about him I don't like."

"Have you even spent enough time to make a conclusion like that?" I asked and Logan rolled his eyes.

"I always thought you were smarter than that."

"Of course he was joking," I couldn't believe we were having this discussion, "He's a friend, Logan."

"Well, I'm a friend too," Logan nearly growled, "And I'm telling you – this guy's bad news."

"He hasn't done anything," I said, then waited for his response, but it didn't come, "What has gotten into you lately?"

He pointed behind me, and I whipped around just in time to see Warren land a few feet behind where we were standing. He was covered in soot and looked like he was bleeding from somewhere. He looked as if he was about to pass out, and we both ran to him. But that wasn't the reason why, he was carrying the limp, bloody, and bruised body of what seemed to be Scott Summers in his arms.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and be sure to leave me a review… I love 'em (So also thanks for the reviews so far too )… and I'll update as soon as I can (But it may be a little longer…. :)


	4. Power

Double Dilemma

Chapter Four – Power

Once we had stood there in shock for a reasonable amount of time, Logan rushed to aid Warren's rapidly failing cause. He very carefully took Summers from him, and then went as quickly and carefully as he could into the mansion, kicking open the door as he went. I assumed he was headed straight for the med-lab where Beast could get to work on him. Storm came running up the lawn from where she had been, supervising the younger kids and caught Warren just before he collapsed onto the grass. I held the door open and helped her, the best I could, to get him inside and onto the common room couch.

"I couldn't- I couldn't get there," Warren was mumbling, "I just—"

Storm was attempting to sooth him as I ran down the hall to the supply closet for a few things. I grabbed healing ointment, bandages, and a couple cloths before running back into the room, and then went to the nearest sink to soak the towels in hot water. Warren kept mumbling and ranting about what he had seen, from what I could piece together in his rambling while I very carefully tried to help Storm clean him up – the professor hadn't sent him on the easiest of tasks. He had sent Warren to the vacation village where Scott and Jean were. Only he got there and the place was a mess, and then he kept talking about Jean like he could see her.

"Warren, calm down," I finally said once we had finished patching him up, "It's ok. You're back at the mansion, and we're taking care of you ok?"

"Where's Jean?" He asked, the phrase had been in some of his rambling, "Where's Jean?"

"We don't know, Warren," Storm said calmly, like it was something that he didn't need to worry about, "You only came back with Scott. Now, relax – and try and get some rest, ok?"

Warren didn't even respond, he just closed his eyes and was out cold before either of us could even bat an eyelash. For a second we watched him sleeping, just in case there was something else wrong with him, then I got up. He hadn't gotten breakfast, so knowing that Storm was watching him, I headed to the kitchen. I whipped him up his favorite sandwich, and then snagged some left over food from dinner the night before for him in case he wanted those. I set the plate of food on the coffee table by where he was laying just as the professor walked in, flanked on both sides, Logan on one and Tony on the other.

"Storm," The Professors stern and very serious voice said, "Please go round up the children. Don't let them know anything's up – just keep them together. No need to panic just yet."

"Yes, Professor," She said, excusing herself from the room and heading outside to where everyone was.

"Angel," He nearly barked, and Warren jerked awake, "Eat. You'll need that more than sleep right now."

"How's Summers?" I asked and Logan shrugged.

"He doesn't look good, kid," He replied, slightly sullen.

Everyone knew that Scott and Logan didn't get along, but that in no way meant that Logan wished him any real harm. Logan thought he was annoying, a bit too polished, and possibly the most arrogant person he had ever met – but he wasn't going to act all high and mighty when Scott was clearly severely injured. That was one of the things that I adored about him, even the people he thought were so stupid and irritating, he took care of. He knew the value of life, no matter who's it was.

"I'm terribly sorry, Angel," The Professor said, "It seems I've been interrupting your meals all day – but could you possibly finish your sandwich as we walk? I'd like us all to go pay a visit to Mr. Summers."

"He can't walk," I said, "He's exhausted and worn out."

"I'll help 'em," Logan offered gruffly, and Warren nodded.

"That should be fine," He said, trying to get up and Logan went over and offered him his shoulder as a crutch.

We all followed the Professor's wheelchair apprehensively as he led us down towards the med-lab where Summers was. I was walking slowly, on the other side of Warren from Logan, just to make sure he didn't tip over while Tony was walking up with the Professor. I was trying my hardest not to check him out from behind, but I couldn't help myself, and I prayed that no one else noticed. I pried my eyes away from him, and looked to Warren, who had been too busy trying to balance to notice, but Logan rolled his eyes at me. I blushed.

"What?" I challenged him, and he shook his head.

"Nothin', Kid," He replied and I got a little sad.

I had been in love with Logan much too long, I almost felt guilty about the little bit of feelings that were starting to develop for Tony. Tony was great, he was telling me all the things that I wanted to hear, he was being the man the man that I had wanted. He and Logan, though they were so different, they were cut from the same fabric. They were both drinking, womanizing, sarcastic, and stubborn. They both wanted it to seem as if they didn't care about anyone, they were both so driven – they were just opposite sides of the spectrum of life. I wanted to hit myself, I was settling – with Tony, he was there in the way I wanted Logan to be – but I still wanted Logan.

"Everyone, please, take a seat," The Professor interrupted my train of thought as we walked into a room where Scott was hooked up to a bunch of machines, "So I can explain what's happened."

Surprisingly, no one gave him much trouble about that. I was expecting a quick comment, something snarky from either Tony or Logan, but I was disappointed. They both seemed to pick up in the direness of the situation, and hadn't said a word. Logan took a loyal seat to my right and Tony took a seat by the professor, almost directly across the room from us.

"I know exactly what's happened," Warren piped up, "Magneto's kidnapped Jean."

"What?" That got Logan's attention, Jean always got Logan's attention.

I could feel my blood start to boil, and the guilt rising up my esophagus. I was jealous of her, still I was jealous of her. She was in the hands of the brotherhood, everyone had every right to be worried about her, that included Logan.

"I'm afraid that's not nearly the worst of it," The Professor replied and Tony looked as if someone had just pushed the flashing red button to release the nukes to end the world.

"Jean Grey?" Tony checked and the Professor nodded, "Well, that sounds like terrific news. How the hell could you let this happen? The only reason she was permitted to stay was because you had her under control. You allowed her out of your sight? How recklessly irrespons—"

"You and I are not speaking of the same Jean," The Professor cut him off, "I'm thinking of the beautiful, brilliant example of a person. A human being, a mutant, but still a human being who wanted to go on an anniversary trip with her husband. I had an eye on things, and sent Angel to retrieve them this morning. I was a little off on my calculation-"

"You allowed a highly dangerous class five mutant—"

"Jean's a class five?" Warren interjected, but was ignored by the arguing parties.

"Would you rather have me lock her somewhere in a tower?" The Professor asked rhetorically, "Jean hadn't had an incident in years, there was no reason to think—"

"Oh, that fireplace hasn't set the mansion on fire lately, let's let it burn unsupervised," Tony retorted, "Maybe we can burn the whole city."

"Smartass," Logan managed to get Tony's attention, "Why don't you shut the hell up so the rest of us can be let in on what's going on here."

"Take it away, Xavier," Tony was still steaming, "Why don't you explain just how horribly you've screwed us all."

The Professor very quickly delved into the story of how he and Erik, before he completely took on Magneto as a persona, used to go and collect the students. He explained that he had been tracking a certain mutant, Jean, since she was born. Her birth had nearly destroyed Cerebro because of the amount of power she had added to the system. He told us about how he and Erik had gone to speak with her parents, only to find them scared of their own daughter, and her mutation.

"Most parents are a little scared when they discover for a fact that their child is a mutant," The Professor said, "But this was different – most parents are concerned for their child's safety, or heartbroken that their children will not lead what they'd consider a 'normal' life. This was much different than that, they were scared for themselves, not their daughter."

"Bastards," Logan said, and I involuntarily shifted away from him slightly.

It was just my gut reaction, I hated to hear him even show concern for her. Did that make me a bad person? Probably. But, she didn't want him. She had played with Logan, my Logan, for years while still married to Scott. She teased and just played with him, played with the very solemnly shown emotions of my Logan. For him to still even care about what happened to her – it shred my heart in about a million pieces. My perfect Logan, he was everything to me, and she had treated him like shit. Worse than shit, she didn't see the amazing guy that was before her. She had even at one point been the reason for him trying to change himself. That was when I had had to have a serious talk with him.

"The truth was, Jean is the most powerful mutant I've ever come across," The Professor continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "To keep it brief, I was able to suppress much of her power under an alter personality – the Phoenix. This allowed for Jean to be able to live a relatively normal life. The point of putting so much mental stress on her was the idea that she would be able to live normally – that's why I never locked her away or kept her chained to my chair. I figured that that would be the equivalent of locking a child with down syndrome or any other abnormality in the attic or basement."

Tony scoffed.

"The difference would be that those kids weren't a danger to others."

"They thought they were dangerous at the time," The Professor replied.

"So why is it that this Phoenix is so dangerous?" It was my turn to ask a question.

"Well," The Professor replied, "In suppressing the girl's powers, the alternate personality became extraordinarily violent. There's no way of knowing the extent of damage that she could cause."

"Ok," said Logan, "So then why did Magneto take her? If he can't even begin to be able to control her powers. The guy's nuts, but he's not suicidal."

"For months now, the Phoenix has been gaining strength," Xavier continued, "I do not believe Erik realizes just how much. I believe he was under the impression that he could use her power without her knowledge. Suck it out of her without actually awaking The Phoenix. He of course was not aware that the Phoenix was about to burst through. I've been working with her, trying to reinforce the layers I'd put between her and The Phoenix, but…"

"So, Jean's a timebomb," Logan said and the Professor nodded.

"Rapidly approaching Zero too," He responded.

"So what're we gonna do?" Warren asked.

"We train, and we fight," The Professor replied, "That's really all we can do. We'll leave Storm and Scott once he recovers – he's too close to the situation be viable – to watch over the students. While you four, and myself go and train."

"_Go_ and train?" Warren asked.

"The _four_ of us?" I thought this was the greater issue here, "The four of us, against a level five?"

"Professor," Logan's turn to pipe up, he looked to me – somewhat subconsciously – then looked back at the Professor, "I think their might be a few holes in your plans here."

"It's a suicide mission," Tony remarked, somewhat less kindly than Logan.

"I think that if you four were to work together, you would be able to do it," Xavier replied then raised an eyebrow, "I would think it would be no problem for you, Stark. I figured that the Wolverine, Rogue, and Angel would be a little overkill actually."

I smiled, he was appealing to Tony's ego. Tony didn't say anything. None of us said anything. The professor excused us, but none of us moved. Finally, Logan got up and helped Warren to his feet. I followed them out of the room, and onto the elevator. None of us said anything, and we went right up to Warren's room. I got the door, and Logan helped him onto his bed so that he could rest. I got his water bottle, and filled it for him, putting it within his reach before I walked out into the hall with Logan again.

"Dinner?" He asked as he closed the door behind us, checking the time on the wall behind me.

"It's really time for dinner?" I asked and he nodded.

Dinner was quiet, mostly because my whole mind was spinning on its side. I walked into the dining room with Logan, completely ignoring the fact that Tony was over in the corner. His head popped up when we walked in, and I pretended not to notice. I pretended I was too wrapped up in Logan and I's lack of usual banter to see that Tony was looking for us – well at least me – to join him. Logan seems a little happier than he had been earlier in the day. We sat, we ate, and my mind continued to spin.

I felt terrible about ignoring Tony, but I didn't want him. Not really, and even if I did – I was talking myself out of it. There was no way that I was going to end up with him, so why bother? And why bother possibly alienating Logan about it? Logan was my friend, my best friend, even if nothing changed between us – he was still there. He wasn't going anywhere – unless I let Tony drive him away – which I wasn't going to do. I wanted Logan, whether he wanted me the same way or not. No more tooling around with Tony, it wasn't fair to anyone – I loved Logan. I loved Logan, and no matter how much flirtation, attraction, and – damn he was adorable.

"Everything ok, Marie?" Logan asked, somehow we had gotten into the hallway outside the dining room – Had I already eaten?

"Yeah, I'm just tired," I lied, he knew.

"Well, if you're interested, I was going to head down into town for a bit," He said, "I'd be picking up beer – but maybe I could get you something for dessert if you came with me?"

"No thanks, Logan," I said, wait, what?

"Ok, get some rest, Marie," He smiled nonchalantly and headed off in a different direction.

I understood with the current situation that the Professor had bigger things to do than teach me to control my skin. His new orders for training meant that our sessions probably wouldn't be, so I had to work on it myself. I wasn't going to let whatever little progress I had go out the window because Jean decided to self-destruct. I went to my room and laid on my bed, trying to calm my mind down. This wasn't something that I was all that great at, but I knew that practice would only help. I was about to get up to try the ball, when there was a knock on the door. I opened the door, and Tony waltzed right into my room.

"What're you doing here?" I asked and he held up a finger to silence me.

"Just listen," He said, "I get it, ok? I'm not a moron. You and Wolverine have something going on, and it seems like it's been going on a while. Whatever, he's muscular, and macho, and furry– we're all entitled to our own preferences. But it doesn't seem to be going anywhere – and I know you like me, Rogue. I know you do, so I'm not going to let you just push me aside and ignore me. You're not going to ignore me, Rogue. If Wolverine hasn't snatched you up yet, that's his problem."

"Don't you get it, Tony?" I asked, "I do like you, but I'm in love with him. I can't just switch that off, he's my best friend."

"Best friends make lousy lovers," He replied, "I should know – they know you too well. Fights start over your thoughts."

"I can't be anyone's lover," I corrected him, and he pouted disappointedly.

"Well maybe you could be," He handed me a vile of very light blue liquid.

"What's this?"

"Something I made up for you, drink it," He said and I narrowed my gaze at him, "It's why I made you touch my arm the other night, I made you a temporary cure. It coats your nervous system, a swallow'll give you a half hour if you need it."

"I can touch people?" I asked and he nodded.

"Take a sip," He prompted, and I did.

I could feel a coolness that I had never felt before wash over me. I closed my eyes and quivered it was sour as it went down, like it was a bitter taste to my system. When I opened my eyes, Tony was close to me. Closer than he had been before. I could see the lines on his gorgeous face much more clearly than I would have normally. I followed one from his forehead to where it started onto his nose, then glanced to his lips. Before I had really registered what was going on, I felt his arm wrap around my waist, and his hand clear a few strands of hair from my face – touching me without anything happening.

The next thing I felt were his lips, very lightly, very gently – cautiously grazing the side of my face. A kiss on the cheek, and slowly he dragged them towards my mouth, with enough time for me to stop him, but for some reason I didn't – even though I knew I should have. The feeling was exhilarating, the feeling of being kissed without causing the man pain. My eyes closed, for some reason the face I had in my head was a blur. I knew that I wanted it to be Logan, but for some reason it changed, slightly – but never showed who exactly it was.

"Tony," I pulled away, a little breathless – and he stepped back.

As soon as he did, I caught a glimpse of someone standing behind him, in the doorway. I didn't get a look at them, other than out of the corner of my eye before they took off – but there was only one person that it could have been. Logan.

A/n: so I'm sorry I haven't updated in a few days... I've been pretty busy... and sadly to say it'll probably be a few days before I can update again... :( I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and be sure to leave me a review and tell me whatcha think...


	5. Games, Part I

Double Dilemma

Chapter Five – Games, Part I

"You have to go," I said, halfway to the doorway already myself.

"What's wrong?" Tony was surprised by my actions, and frozen to where he was standing, "Not to sound like the girl here, but did I do something—"

"No, Tony," I replied instantly, he was perfect, a thought that made my heart constricting from discomfort as I saw the confusion and slight pang of pain in his face, "I just have to go, so do you."

"I'll wait here for you then," He smirked, "We can continue when you get back? I could wait on your bed for you."

"Stop, being playful," I said, trying to get the picture of him lounge there waiting for me out of my head, "We can't continue this, I'm—"

"You're what?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

Damn, he was adorable.

"Later," I told him as we both left the room and I shut the door, taking off down the hall.

I was running in the direction Logan had gone, but I had no idea where he could've gone. Or even if he was upset – maybe he had been coming by to double check I didn't want to go, and didn't want to ruin the moment. Or maybe he'd gone back to his room, feeling above all else awkward about what he saw. But I needed to know why he had walked away, and why he had been going to my room so late. I needed to know how he felt about a possibility of Tony and I. Was it bad that a part of me wanted him to be upset?

"Logan," I called as I walked outside, judging by the looks I had been getting all the way out – he had been moments ahead of me.

I looked out over the dark lawn, and saw no one. I took as deep a breath as my insetting panic attack would allow. Then, I took off towards the garage – where I thought he might be. I peeked inside, and Scott's motorcycle was resting peacefully right in the spot it always was, the motor not even hot, fan not even running. I turned around and headed towards the back lawn, Logan sometimes took his cigar breaks out by the woods. The Professor had designated him a certain section where he was allowed, as part of terms of his staying.

"Logan?"

He was leaning against a tree on the very edge of the back lawn, his arms crossed with a cigar in his mouth. I walked closer and I could smell the overwhelming comfort of the smoke, it smelled like my Logan. He uncrossed his arms and stepped forward as I approached. He slapped a slight smile on his face and tried to cover his eyes in concern.

"What's up, Marie?" He asked, "You'll wake everyone up callin' for me like that – you ok? What happened?"

I was sure I looked like a hot mess, but I wasn't all too concerned about that in that moment. At that moment, Logan was trying to pretend he hadn't seen what he had. The only the problem was, I knew him too well – I knew when he was lying, or trying to hide anything – this was no exception. There was a part of me that was screaming to just let it slide, if he wanted to pretend – to let him. Then the rest of me was far too loud

"I saw you in the doorway, Logan," I told him, "I wanna know why."

"So what you took off on your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend, Logan," I rolled my eyes, "Why were you there?"

"Because I hadn't realized you'd ditched me to go off with _him_," Logan nearly spat that last word, "I brought you back your favorite, it's somewhere over there now."

He motioned somewhere off in the lawn – but I didn't even bother to look.

"Logan," I said warningly.

There was a long silence, and I suddenly got the feeling that it would be an extraordinarily long night.

"Why're you playing games with that guy?" He finally asked – there's a start at least.

"It's not a game," I retorted, and Logan raised his eyebrows.

"Marie, I just saw you kissing him."

"He kissed me," I replied, a little too quickly, and a little too defensively, "He knocked on the door, Logan. He wanted to talk, he said he wasn't just going to let me ignore him because…."

"Because what?" He asked, and I blushed, "What, Marie? Why the hell would you let that happen? We both know you like him a little bit, but not like that."

"What if I do, like him?" I replied and Logan shook his head, "He's smart, he's hilarious, charming, sweet – when he wants to be – and he – "

"He what?" Logan asked.

"Don't do this to me Logan," I argued and Logan stepped closer to me, if the poison was running through my veins I would be afraid that I'd hurt him.

"What is it about him, Marie?" Logan asked again, he was furious, I could see the fire burning in his eyes.

The only reason I had never just come out and told him that I was in love with him was because I liked it the way it was between us. I knew in that moment that there was no going back, there was no way that we were going to be able to go back. Logan, for whatever reason, wasn't going to be able to act normally around me because of Tony. And even if we did get our strange dynamic back, then it would be a miracle enough so that we would be able to recover from what I was about to say next.

"He says the things I want to hear from you," I barely got the words out and I felt stupid, "He looks at me and sees me, as a woman, and as someone he can eventually be in love with. He treats me kindly, not necessarily through words, but his actions. He's willing to chase me. He's great—"

I was cut off midsentence; Logan had spun me around so that my back was to the tree he had previously been leaning against. I could feel the bark against my back, felt it starting to dig in for a split second before all I could feel were Logan's lips. He was holding me against the tree, and his lips and teeth were working furiously against my lips, it took me a second to realize what was going on for me to be able to begin to kiss him back. I could feel it everywhere, rattling all of my extremities. Then, I was slowly starting to become light headed, unable to breath from the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

He seemed so realize that my oxygen was rapidly depleting, and diverted his hot, sensual open mouthed kisses down the side of my neck. He then took his arms from where he had me pinned to the tree, pinning me instead with his body. He rested his forehead against the side of my neck as his trail of kisses came to a end. I felt his fingers slowly pulling my shirt down so that he could just get to my collar bone – he kissed that too. Then, he raised his head up and looked into my eyes.

"Shut up," He growled, sending a wave right down my spine, he had to hold me up, "Does your golden boy make you feel like that, Marie?"

"Huh," I tried to mutter an intelligent thought, and failed – miserably.

The only sound that escaped my mouth was a faint, breathless sound, which made Logan smirk. I could see the moonlight shine on his teeth as he pressed the side of his face against mine, positioning his mouth beside my ear.

"I love you," He breathed, "It drives me crazy to see you with him. See him flirting with you and not slitting his throat for even thinking of you like that. It took all I had not to stab him right in the back up there."

"Logan," I reached around, placing my arms around his neck and playing with the ends of his soft hair.

"Why do you think I've stuck around here this long?" He asked, rhetorically, "There's nothing here for me, except you."

"I love you so much, Logan," I said, as he pressed his forehead to mine, "I always have, and I will no matter what – mostly because I don't know anything else."

"What happened?" Logan asked a broad smile on his face, as he brushed my cheek gingerly with the back of his hand.

"I knew it," I could feel tears stemming from my eyes, "You wouldn't want me, if you couldn't touch me. You might love me, but—"

"I have never heard something so stupid in my life," He replied, kissing my forehead, "It's definitely a perk, but there are ways around actually touching your skin, Darlin'. So what'd you do, anyways?"

"Tony," I said, and I felt him tense up, "Tony made me a temporary cure – It should be wearing off soon."

"I can talk to him for you," Logan replied, his mind just clicking back to what had happened not twenty minutes before hand, "I'll go see him now – if you want."

His fingertips were trailing around the side of my neck, then down the side of my body to my hip. I leaned in and kissed him again, because I wanted too, without much else logic behind it.

"Is that a yes?" He chuckled.

"No." I said swiftly, and he took a step back once he registered the expression on my face.

"No?" He asked, his facial expression now matched the confused one on my own, "You're confused. You really do…"

"No, Logan," I said, I didn't want him upset – I didn't want anything to hurt him, ever, "I'm in love with you, and you have no idea how amazing that just was for me. But, I do like him. And you have no idea how confusing that is. I've loved you for so long… I just—"

A dawning of comprehension came across his face, and he took a step forward, leaning in and kissing my forehead affectionately.

"I understand," He said softly, "I've been a coward, and if I'd taken what I wanted when I should have, we wouldn't be having this issue. I know that it has to be you and I, Marie. I can't see it any other way, no one else but you. But that's what I want, I want you, Marie. And I'm not only willing to chase you, I'm willing to wait around until you know without a doubt that you want me, no one else."

I was late walking into breakfast the next day, but that was because I had been late getting back to my room. I had been late back to my room because of that whole little scene with Logan on the back lawn, and it was much later than it should have been getting to sleep because of what Logan had said. I walked into breakfast, and Logan was sitting on one side of the dining room, with Tony in the opposite corner. Tony smiled when he saw me, but didn't have a clue as to why I couldn't smile back. I spotted Warren sitting even further away than either of them, and b-lined it straight for his table.

"I kissed him," I whispered once I had sat down.

"Which one?" Warren's eyes expanded to about three times their normal size.

"Both of them," I breathed, barely audibly.

"What?!" Warren replied and I nodded.

"Tony came into my room, and kissed me last night," I said, "And then Logan saw it, so I ran after him, and he kissed me too."

"Who's better?"

"Logan," I said it without even thinking, "But that's probably only because I've fantasized about it for about a thousand years. But that's not even the half of it."

Warren's only response was to give me a slightly confused, slightly scared look. I could feel Tony and Logan's eyes on me as I sat there, and I stood up.

"Breakfast on the lawn?" I suggested.

"Of course," He said, looking around and realizing exactly what I had just been thinking.

As soon as we got outside I explained the whole catastrophic night to him, and by the end he didn't look surprised one bit.

"Well if I knew you'd kissed Tony right in front of Logan like that, I could have told you that that was exactly what was going to happen," He said, matter-o-factly.

"So you think Logan's just jealous too?"

"I think he was rip-shit jealous," Warren said, "But I don't think that's it. I've been telling you for about a year the way he looks you up and down every time he sees you. How you're the only one he never gets angry with."

"He was pretty pissed last night."

"But he tried to pretend he wasn't," Warren pointed out, "And who's benefit do you think that was for? He loves you, Rogue, and you might be the only thing or person on the planet he's ever loved."

"What about Tony?"

"Tony's a ladies' man through and through-"

"So is Logan," I interrupted.

"Logan's only like that because he's been single," Warren said, "If he had you, you're all he'd need. He's already been extraordinarily loyal to you – why would that change? Tony, on the other hand puts in a lot of effort, and would definitely be there for you, and I don't know that he loves you yet – but…"

"So basically you're telling me I'm screwed," I said, "I have to choose between my perfect dream guy, and Tony Stark."

"Pretty much," Warren replied, "But I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"And why not?" I asked.

"Because you're going to end up with Wolverine," He replied, and I looked at him.

"How're you so sure?"

"Well, if he's willing to wait around for you – odds are entirely in his favor for ending up with you," I was confused, but then Warren continued, "The guy won't ever die."

"Thanks," I said dryly and he chuckled.

"No problem."

"Rogue?" I heard Tony call for me from a few feet away, "Can I steal you away for a second?"

"Sure," I got up and headed over towards him, even though it was the last thing I really wanted to do.

"What happened last night?" He asked as we started walking towards the woods, "You ditched me, right?"

"You didn't shut the door," I told him, "Wolverine came to see me, and saw us."

"That's why you took off," Tony concluded and I nodded, "And? Let me guess, he pronounced his undying love for you, told you to ditch me…Am I missing anything?"

"He kissed me," I replied and Tony nodded.

"Well if we were going on kisses alone, I would've won," He shrugged, "So you have a decision to make…"

I didn't want to lead Tony on any more than I already had. Though the thought of making Logan wait was a bit tempting, I wanted to make my deliberation quick. Tony was great, but Logan was Logan. It sucked, but that was just the way it was. I could choose Tony, and maybe have a nice, happy life But if I picked Logan, I was signing on for the only man that could make me feel the strongest parts of everything. The choice wasn't really one to start with. The minute I opened my mouth to speak, Logan, the Professor and Warren came over towards us. Logan looked a little less than pleased to come to realize Tony and I had been alone, but the other two seemed unphased.

"Stark, Angel," The Professor said, "Please go grab the jet. I know you can't fly it properly yet, Angel – but I'm sure Stark can figure it out in a snap – Wolverine, Rogue, come with me to help me collect the gear and supplies. Have the plane waiting on the back lawn in about a half hour?"

"Of course, sir," Tony replied, showing respect for one of the first times since he'd shown up.

Tony winked at me as he turned to walk away, and Logan gritted his teeth as we silently followed the professor towards the training shed. It was attached to the mansion, and Logan carried the key at all times. He opened up the door and we started to take things, piling them up in the back lawn near where Tony would fly in from.

"I haven't seen half this stuff before," I said as I took a vest from Logan and carried it to the pile.

"That, my dear, is because we haven't faced anything like this before," The Professor replied.

A/N: Thanks for your comments, they make writing this even funner than it already was, so keep 'em coming. We didn't get ot see much of Tony in this chapter, but we may be seeing him a little more than next chapter. Hope you enjoyed! I'll try and update as soon as I can! Love you guys and thanks for reading!


	6. Games, Part II

Double Dilemma

Chapter Six – Games, Part II

I avoided both Logan and Tony the best that I could for the rest of the day. Luckily, due to the training the professor had us working with – this was easy. He had brought us to some place in the middle of nowhere, dropping us and telling us that he would meet us back at the mansion, which apparently wasn't too far away. He had set traps and markers along the paths that we should take. He called it personal training. Today were working on improving our own strengths and working on our own weaknesses. It was an exercise that was supposed to teach us how to, and that we can make it individually – because if we couldn't do that, we would never be able to work together. I wondered how quickly Tony and Warren would make it back. I envied them, and their abilities to fly.

In the long run, however, I was certain that that exercise, on that day was a specific gift. I needed the time to myself, and while I wished over and over that I wasn't out in the woods – it wasn't like Tony or Logan could come find me out there. Part of the exercise was to be individuals; they would have to wait to torture me until I got back to the mansion. I took a deep breath, I was working my way through my maze pretty well, but I was going slowly as I was far too distracted. Thoughts of Logan clouded my mind, with thoughts of Tony drifting in fairly often. It felt strange, to be thinking about anyone else, unnatural. I just wanted Tony to leave, and to be able to just choose Logan, without a second thought.

But there were second thoughts, and third thoughts, and fourth thoughts. I was so surprised by the situation that I didn't even know where to start. I just kept replaying everything that had happened since Tony had shown up on the mansion's front steps over and over in my mind. Now that I knew, I could see and understand every little motivation behind Logan's every behavior since Tony and I had started to talk. The whole issue had started much sooner than I originally thought it had.

I finished off a droid that had been waiting for me in the shadows, then walked out into what I had originally thought was a clearing. Turns out it was the perfectly manicured back lawn of the mansion. I could see Warren sitting on the edge of the back porch, it was nearing dusk, there were kids out around front with Storm, but we were alone back there.

"Didn't have too much trouble?" Warren asked as I started walking up towards the back door.

"No, you?" I paused on the porch with him for a minute.

"Not too much," He replied and I nodded, "Where are you going?"

"Going to find Wolverine, and then Tony," I said, and Warren raised his eye brows.

"They're not back yet. They probably found each other in the woods and decided to duel it out," He mused then looked back to me, "This mean you've made your decision then?"

"I want to make it quick, Warren," I replied, "There's no need to lead on anyone. I choose Tony. From all I know Wolverine doesn't even really like me, that kiss could have been just so fantastic because I wanted it so bad. He doesn't get to pull an 'I love you' just because he's jealous that I'm spending time with Tony. If and when Tony and I break up, and he's still interested, we'll see then."

"He told you he loves you?"

"He did," I smiled, and Warren rolled his eyes, "Unless of course Tony was just the tool that got Wolverine to come out of his shell- realize that I'm old enough to have an adult relationship with – maybe he's been waiting…"

"You have no idea," Warren replied, "It's the ultimate 'who'd you rather?' – and you can't pick. Cigars or Scotch? Adamantium or Brains? History vs. a fresh start? Brawn vs. Slightly less Brawn? Or, possibly the most important question of all, privacy or fame? If you pick Stark, within forty-eight hours everyone in the universe will know your name. If you choose the Wolverine, your life doesn't change – you don't get chased by paparazzi, or get to go to red carpet events."

"I hate you," I replied, and Warren smirked, "I just want to make this quick – this should be easy."

"It's anything but easy," Warren said, "It's your decision, you genuinely like both of them, I'm not going to tell you who to choose. But, for what it's worth here's what I think. I think if you chose Stark you're signing on for a maybe, and that's ok. You'll get whatever the hell you want, when you want it, and servants-"

"He does not have servants," I hoped.

"You get a big mansion house in Malibu, and you'll be happy. For a while, anyways. You'll have the man of everyone's dreams," Warren paused, then continued, "Until the glitter goes away and you're sitting in your Malibu dream house and realize you're not Barbie. And you don't want to be."

"You think Tony's going to make me into Malibu Barbie?" I questioned, raising my eye brows at him, trying to make it a little lighter.

"But if you chose the Wolverine, you'll get a man who loves you. Granted, a curmudgeonly old man, but a man who would do everything he can for you – who does everything he can for you. Who's been sticking around this place for years just waiting for you, taking care of you and what you really need. Which, for the record doesn't include a Barbie dream house."

"He has not been waiting for me."

"You've been waiting for him," He pointed out, "How do you know he hasn't been waiting for you? Waiting for you to show interest? Waiting for you to grow up a bit? Waiting for you to decide you wanted someone?"

"I thought you weren't going to tell me who to pick?" I pouted, "I can be Barbie if I want to. It might be nice for a change, to be taken care of like that. A big house, fancy dresses, red carpets.."

"No more x-men."

"He wouldn't make me stop," I pointed out, "He realizes this isn't the nineteen-fifties."

"Even so, most don't want their loved ones to be in the line of fire like that."

I was about to retort, something about Logan worrying about my safety, but still respecting that it's my decision. However, I had made the mistake of glancing over towards the edge of the woods. At first all I could see was shadows, then I realized that two men were walking out of the woods. One, the slightly shorter one, supporting the other.

"Tony!" I nearly yelped out as he tripped, and Logan nearly had to dive to catch him.

"What happened?" Warren asked from somewhere behind me as I reached them.

"I'm ok," Tony replied, trying his hardest to be ok, and tried to stand on his own.

"Don't make an ass of yourself," Logan replied as Tony faltered again.

"What happened?" I looked to Logan as Tony, still in his Iron Man suit leaned on me instead, and I supported him thoughtlessly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Magneto showed up," Logan said as I helped Tony into the house, Logan and Warren now following us, "And Iron Balls over here decided he'd try to suit up and face him."

"Oh, Tony," I said as I helped him onto the couch – the same one we'd situated Warren on a few days ago.

"I tried telling him his suit's metal," Logan said and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Can someone remove the mutt?" Tony nearly spat as he eased onto the couch, "Nice house like this, you may want to keep them outside."

"I just saved your ass."

"Like I said, good loyal pup," Tony glared back at him, and all of a sudden I heard Logan's claws come out.

"Logan!" I felt like a preschool teacher, but I was much more concerned with what was wrong with Tony than their argument.

Everything was silent, I had used his name – and I would apologize for that later – but Tony and Warren knew better than to call him that.

"Thank you for bringing him back," I was so frustrated, were they arguing like this the whole way back? "Please, Go tell the Professor Magneto showed. Then go check on Scott, he should be coming around soon."

"Anything else, _Marie_?" Logan shot back and I took a deep breath.

I got up and pulled him by his suit out of the room, into the hallway.

"I'm sorry, I used your name," I told him, "I just want to fix Tony up, ok? I can't do that with you two arguing like that."

"Yeah," Logan said gruffly.

"You don't believe me?" I couldn't believe it.

"I know that was an accident, and I'm sorry for reacting childishly," Logan replied, and I had to resist the urge to slap him across his perfect face, "But, I don't believe that all you want to do is patch him up."

"I thought you loved me, Logan," The words came out faster, and crueler than I ever wanted them to.

"I do," I replied, his expression going to instant sadness, "But that tool in there has it in his head that he's got a shot in this."

"Logan…"

"So he does?" Logan replied.

"I will come talk to you later," I told him, "You'll be in your room? I'll patch him up, make sure he's ok, and then I'll meet you up there? I'm going to need my friend."

"I'll always be around to be your friend, Marie," He said, "I was hoping to be more. I'll see you when you're done."

There was something to that last statement that drew a red flag, but I didn't have time to deliberate on that too much. I had to get back to where Warren and Tony were waiting for me. I walked back in the room, and Tony was still on the couch, and Warren was standing back against the wall, near the window.

"Please don't –" I started, but Tony cut me off.

"Don't worry about it, Rogue," He said, and Warren nodded, "We're the Wolf-boy go?"

"I'll go check on him," Warren said, "The Wolverine's a little hard headed sometimes."

"You really can't…" I tried to explain to Tony as Warren left, and he just nodded.

"I understand," He said, "Don't worry about it. He's still the Mutt, and you're still Rogue."

"Thanks."

"You might be able to play nurse better if you go take a swig, huh?" He asked as he retracted his suit, to reveal that he was fairly ripped up and his leg was bleeding pretty profusely.

"Yeah," I said, "I'll be right back."

I passed him a towel, placing it carefully onto his leg before running up to my room. I changed out of my x-men uniform, and into pajama pants and a t-shirt. I took a big swig of the bottle he had given me the night before, then headed back down to him. He had tied the towel around his leg to sop up the bleeding, and was leaning back, clearly exhausted. His face had dried blood all over it, and his hair was all matted, his leg he had up to decrease bleeding, and I set the bandages from the hallway closet on the table. He went to sit up and I shook my head.

"Relax, Tony," I told him, "I'll take care of you. Don't try to sit up."

"I don't think I can anyways," He replied, and I chuckled as I started cleaning up his leg, "Well just the fact that you're taking care of me makes me relax a bit. Why weren't you talking much in the plane? I meant to ask if something was up, but the Professor and Warren, Wolverine – everyone around…"

"You called him Wolverine."

"That's his name," Tony replied and I nodded, "He's an ass."

"It's apparently a quality I'm attracted to," I replied, putting the bandage on his leg before picking up a hot towel.

"Someone's got to be," He replied, as I scooted up the coffee table to get a better angle on his face.

"You know, when it's just you and me, you're not really an ass," I replied as I wiped his face off for him.

"Well maybe being attracted to assholes isn't your problem then," He replied, "Maybe you're just someone even asses want to be sweet to."

"Maybe," I said and he smiled.

I paused as he reached up and put a strand of my hair behind my ear. I closed my eyes, let the shock waves that accompanied his touch riddle through me, and smiled as I opened my eyes. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, his hand that was closest to me was caressing down the side of my face gently. His fingers felt amazing against my skin, all I wanted to do was curl up with him, let him hold me.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" Tony asked, as if he were seriously asking.

"No need to ask if you know how gorgeous you are," I replied, I thought with some whit.

"I'm not all bad," He replied, "I'm not all that different from your puppy there. Other than you, I think that's why we don't get along all too well."

"You are similar," I replied, leaning over him.

"Do you have any idea how much I want to kiss you right now?"

"I don't think that's a great idea, Tony," I said, setting the towel down on the table, and he nodded, "We both know how this ends, no matter how much I may like you."

"I know," He replied, "But if you would just give me a shot, Rogue. That's all I'm asking for -"

"Tony, if I did that – I would fall for you more, I know it," I replied, "I know that eventually I would be in love with you too. But Lo – Wolverine. There's something I can't really explain about him, the way I love him. It would never be equal, and I wouldn't be able to love you the way that I love him. He's the first man that I've really been in love with…"

"He got here first,' Tony nodded, then smirked, "There's no harm in letting him sweat it out a little, right?"

"Don't be angry."

"I'm not angry," Tony replied, shaking his head at me, "I'm kind of sad, don't ask me to be the guy's best friend any time soon, but you have to do whatever you think is best. Even if it's not what I think is best. I could make you happy, Rogue –"

"I know," I replied, "Believe me, I know. Under any other circumstances I would be leaping into your arms right now. But I can't. I wouldn't be able to…"

"You wouldn't be able to, or you don't want to be able to?"

I thought about that for a minute.

"Does it matter?" I replied and he shook his head slowly.

"I guess not," He was putting on his brave face, and I just let him do it.

"Let me know if you need anything, ok?" I told him, and he nodded.

"Good bye, Rouge," He said politely, and I headed off upstairs.

My heart felt like it was half gone, and I couldn't block all of the thoughts flooding my mind as I climbed the stairs. I had to wrestle with the overwhelming urge to turn around and run back to him, to tell him that I took it all back. That it was him that I wanted, I didn't want to mess around and deal with Logan anymore.Instead of doing what my head was telling me to do, I followed the pounding in my chest, as it got louder and louder as I got closer and closer to Logan's door.

The second he opened the door, I knew I had made the right choice. My perfect, scruffy, gorgeous Logan opened the door, no shirt, just a pair of flannel pajama pants – fresh from the shower. I just about flung myself into his arms, where he – somewhat confusedly – caught me, and held me as tight as he could. I wanted to cry, scream, melt, be happy, and die all at the same time. The crying seemed to win out in the catapult of mixed emotions as I felt a tear hit my cheek, I quickly reached up to brush it away as Logan backed us up – shut his door and sat with me, practically in his lap on the bed.

"What's going on, Marie?" He asked, not angrily, just concerned.

"Logan, I love you," was all that I could think of to say, so there it was coming out of my mouth.

"I knew that already, Kid," He replied a little gruffly, and I looked up at him, in semi-darkness, the only light being the one on his night stand.

"Please don't be an ass about this."

"What's there to be an ass about?" He asked, "Unless-"

"No, Logan," I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck as I leaned up and kissed his cheek – for no other reason than I needed to.

"No what?" He asked and I took a deep breath.

"I choose you, Logan," I said, the least corny way I could, "I'm all yours. I always have been, I kinda just didn't want to admit it."

"Some fancy ass dresser shows up, with his scotch and his charm, and you don't want to admit that you'd rather be with the guy that drinks whatever has alcohol in it, and smokes cheap cigars."

"That's not why," I shot back, "And I thought you weren't going to be an ass."

"I never said that," Logan leaned back, taking me with him, holding me in his arms as his head hit the pillow, and mine hit his chest, "Then why?"

"I didn't want to admit that I really did pine for you all those years, that it was enough for me that I waited around for you for years, and all you have to do is tell me one night that you love me and I'm yours," I rambled, and Logan nodded solemnly, sadly.

"I'm sorry I treated you so badly, Marie," He replied, "And I promise, it won't happen again. I was waiting for you too, for you to be ready for me. Then I see you flirting and chuckling, and so…"

"You'd never seen me like that with someone else."

"Yeah."

"It's because I always knew that I was in love with you, and that eventually it would happen – so what was the use of trying to like someone else," I told him and he nodded.

"But Stark?"

"I already told you the answer to that," I replied, and he nodded, "And, you and he are more alike than you think."

Logan growled, a deep growl, complete with a low grumble in his chest. His growl was half comforting, half intoxicating. All I wanted to do was snuggle up tighter to him, which I did – making him smirk slightly as he held onto me tighter. All the uncertainties of my decision washed completely away, and I had no doubt in my mind that I was right where I was meant to be, right in my Logan's arms, lying on his bed.

"But we don't have to talk about him," I pointed out, at least not right now.

"And, I don't ever want to keep you waiting ever again," He replied, leaning down and kissing me softly.

A/N: Hey Guys! Hope you like the chapter… and while I've made the decision not to up the rating, it may get a tad steamier in coming chapters, so just be aware. Also, I was thinking of maybe doing a chapter in Logan, or Tony's POV… so get those reviews in to me and tell me if you think it'd be fun.. (Or maybe I could do half/Half…)


	7. Heaven and Hell

Double Dilemma

Chapter Seven – Heaven and Hell

Logan.

I was lying in my bed, just barely awake, letting the sun shine in through the window onto my face. Something I did just about every day, but that day it was different – I was happy. I looked to my right, and Marie had wrapped herself all up in the covers that I usually didn't use. She had done this the night before, so that when whatever Stark had made her to make her powers go away temporarily – and I honestly had to thank him for that, as much as I didn't particularly like the guy. She was so terrified of hurting me, I told her it wasn't a big deal, that I'd heal – but she insisted on wrapping herself up just in case she rolled over into me in the night. I turned over onto my side to watch her sleep, something I had been dreaming about since I don't even know when.

All I could think about was the night before's events, just rolling over and over in my mind. I could still see her, so beautiful as she moved in the near darkness, and how she felt. It still sent shivers around me everywhere, and all I wanted was for her to be in my arms again. It didn't matter that I couldn't physically touch her flesh at the moment, but she had wrapped herself up, naked beneath the blankets. I shifted over and wrapped my arms around her, over the blanket. I threw a sheet barrier up so that I could nuzzle my face against hers, I smiled contently.

"Naw," She smiled, waking up, "Who knew you were such a closet snuggler. Don't worry I won't out you."

"Thanks," I said, slightly sarcastically and she smiled.

"Last night was amazing, Logan," She smiled at me and I grinned.

"You're sure you're ok?" I checked, and she nodded.

"Perfect," She was a little sad, quiet.

"Is everything ok?" I asked and she didn't say anything, I took that as a 'no', "What happened?"

"What happens when we find Jean?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"She comes back to the mansion, and goes back to her job?" I was more than a little confused, "Stark goes home."

I couldn't hide the smile as I said that last sentence.

"No, what happens to us?" She asked, slightly louder.

Suddenly I saw where she was going with this.

"Darlin'," I said, snuggling up to her as best I could without getting any over skin against mine, "Why would Jean coming back have any effect on us? Other than there's one more person in the line at dinner? Marie – I don't think you realize how much I love you. Now that I can be with you, why would I bother. She'll come back and see that we're happy. That'll be it. Marie, I don't anyone else, and I don't think I ever really have."

"You didn't want Jean? Or any of the girls at your fights?"

"Is that why you wouldn't go anymore?" I asked, then shook my head – that wasn't the point, "Marie, I'm all yours. I don't want you worrying about that kind of stuff – ok? I love you – I couldn't hurt you like that."

I leaned over and pecked her lips as briefly as I could.

"Sugar, you're going to get hurt," She moved a little further away from me than she had been previously.

"Sugar?" I questioned as I moved to remove the gap she had put between us.

"It's the only name I can think of that fits you," She was looking right into my eyes, and there was something hypnotic about hers as they continued to lock with mine.

"Logan?"

"Something only I can call you," She smiled, "And I can't call you Logan publically.

"Recent events aside," I commented, but she didn't bother with a response.

Adorable, I pretended to be annoyed, rolled my eyes, and sighed passively. She was more than I had even imagined her to be. The pet name was a little much, but as long as she didn't abuse it, it wouldn't be a probably. A man's girl calling him a certain cute little name, even if he wasn't particularly the type to allow that. Either way I thought about it, I knew I didn't have much of a choice – she was going to call me whatever she wanted, so I was just lucky it wasn't worse.

"Thanks," I said slightly sarcastically, leaning in and pecking her temple carefully.

"Would you stop doing that?!" She was starting to become distressed and I nodded.

"Don't worry, Kid," I replied, stroking her hair lightly, barely touching it, "I'll be ok."

"You sure?" She asked, slightly awkwardly – like the statement had nothing to do with the conversation.

"Yes," I narrowed my gaze at her, not wanting to ruin it, "Maybe you should sneak to your room and take a sip of that blue crap so I can kiss you the way I want to."

"Logan," She replied, rolling over to face me, then said very seriously, "I'm not going to use what Tony gave me anymore, for you and me stuff. I can't do it – doesn't feel right. He figured it out for me, but I need to do it on my own. I've been working on it all summer, and it's not fair for him…"

"You've been working on what?" I asked, she was rambling.

"On controlling my powers," She replied and I nodded.

"Is that even possible?" I asked.

"The Professor says it is," She told me, "I can for a few minutes now, but I have to be really relaxed, and almost in a trance – but I'll get it down."

"So any repeats of last night are gonna be a while?" I teased and she pouted.

"Yeah," she replied nervously, "Will that be a problem?"

"It'll make it more fun, I guess," I smiled, letting her know that I wasn't upset about it, "But… if you happen to have a little time left after using it for a credible purpose…"

"You're ridiculous," She exhaled and I smirked.

"C'mon, Marie. We should get some breakfast before training," I said, hopping out of bed and crossing the room, and I could feel her watching me, her eyes raking over my body.

"Mmm," She said distractedly as I turned around, she was still eyeing me.

"Darlin'," I said, walking over and kneeling next to where she was lying so that I was eye – level.

"Mmmhmmm, Sugar?" She scooted closer to the edge so that she was closer to me.

I growled lowly, before I even knew I was going to.

"How long did you say you can fight it?" I asked, unaware until I heard myself that my voice had gone raspy.

"About two minutes," She replied, "But not—"

I leaned in and kissed her, about as passionately as I could – the way I had the night before when I didn't have to worry about her powers. I felt her tongue, excited to be mingling with mine again. I kissed her until I could feel nothing but her, and pulled away just as I started to feel her powers affecting me. I pulled away, she looked dreamy and satisfied, which I was happy about – as I stayed still long enough for my healing agent to combat her poison.

"I'm fine," I said, as soon as I could – to address the soon worried look on her face.

We showered, and got dressed and ready for the day before heading down to breakfast, Marie's gloved hand wrapped tightly within mine as we walked through the halls. I dropped her hand, regretfully, as we reached the dining room door, which I opened for her. Marie was the one girl I wanted to do everything right for. She deserved the world, and I was the one who was going to give it to her. It was almost strange, I had spent so much time making sure that whatever guy she had in her life treated her perfectly that now I held even higher standards for myself.

"Can we sit with Warren?" She whispered to me and I nodded.

"Sit where you like, Darlin'," I told her, "But I'm starving."

"Go grab food," She said, "I have to talk to Warren, I'll get something in a minute."

"I'll grab it for you."

"Ham and Cheese Omlette, and a pancake," She told me, "And a glass of juice – I don't care what kind."

"Ok," I said, and headed over towards the breakfast counter, Storm was on breakfast duty that morning.

"Good morning, you seem a little less like your grumpy self," She smiled, in a way that ordinarily would have annoyed me, "Is Rogue ok, I saw that you were holding her hand on the way in."

"Better than fine," I said, picking up two plates and shoveling my food onto mine before going for her's.

"Logan?" She said my name like a question, she was waiting for me to elaborate.

"We're together, Storm," I said and she smiled.

"Took you long enough," She said, "But I thought her and Stark were into each other…"

In the moment, I couldn't control my facial features, and I'm sure she was able to see the jealousy, and agony I had been in since he arrived. I had been able to hide it well, so far – only Marie really picking up on little things here and there. Storm nearly took a step back, she seemed surprised or something that that comment would cause me to be so upset.

"I'm happy for you both, Logan," She said, in a very calm, soothing voice, "You've been beating around the bush for years with her, it's good you finally stepped up. I bet she's ecstatic."

"She is," It came out more defensively than I wanted it to be.

I picked up both plates, balancing them carefully on a tray as I got Marie and I our drinks. I walked back to the table, and she and Warren – who had been having a similar conversation to the one I had had with Storm – ceased their conversation. Warren smiled at me kindly, and Marie still looked as happy as she had been when we woke up.

"Thanks, Sugar," She smiled as I placed her breakfast in front of her, then sat down to her immediate right.

"No problem," I replied as I set to dig into my usual meat filled breakfast plate.

"How do you eat all that, then train?" Warren asked and I just shook my head, choosing not to answer.

Warren was what I liked to think of as eternally friend-zoned. He followed Marie around everywhere, and all she ever thought of him was one of her best friends. There was absolutely no sexual tension between the two, nothing that would ever let him think that for one second that she could possibly like him. That was why I encouraged their friendship, to a point. She would rant and rave to him, bounce ideas off of him, and he would just take it. God only knew why he'd stick around, especially given the past couple days. I'm sure he had a headache – but if he had something to do with her choosing me, I was forever in his debt.

"It's meat," I replied, attempting to be sociable.

"There you all are," The Professor wheeled up to the end of the table, "Wolverine, Summers has woken up, and seems to be doing a tad better, so I'll need you to go down and discuss matters with him. Rogue, Stark needs to be seen to this morning, and if after you finish your breakfast you can bring him some, that would be greatly appreciated. Warren, help Storm clean up and tend to the youngsters – we all meet in my office at four – Rogue should bring Stark if he's up to it."

"That's awkward," Warren stated the obvious as I turned to Rogue.

"I will be fine," She told me as we exchanged looks, and she leaned in and pecked my cheek – carefully, so that she wouldn't hurt me.

"C'mere," I leaned in and pecked her lips softly.

I was aware that the entire dining room had at least one eye on us, and as I pulled away – she blushed. I didn't mean to embarrass her, but it was the quickest way that I could figure to let everyone know that she was mine. Part of me was embarrassed that I even felt the need to do it, but it was the overwhelming portion of me that needed to My mate – not that I would be telling her that any time soon, but I had known it for years – I just didn't want to burden her with that knowledge. That was slightly a cop out, I hadn't been ready to settle in with her until about a year ago, when I had decided not to leave without her again.

"Well, I should get going. Tony's probably starving," She stood up, and I stood up too.

She went over and got him a plate, I assumed of the things she knew he had at breakfast, and then we headed out into the hall. She was silent, and held my hand with her free hand all the way up to where I was supposed to break to head down to the med-lab.

"You don't have to chaperone me," She said and I furrowed my brow.

"I'm not," I said, dropping her hand , "I just wanted to walk with you—"

"You're going to shove it in his face."

Tony.

I had slept on the couch that night, unable and unwilling to move from the couch. I had laid there for hours that night, just watching where Rogue had been, where she had stood, her words echoing in my head. I fell asleep and dreamed that she hadn't walked away – that she had changed her mind. She had gotten to the top of the stairs, and turned around and came back to me. Then I woke up, slowly, the sun was bright on my face, making any further sleep impossible, not that I would be able to anyways. Then I heard her, out in the hall.

"You're going to shove it in his face," She was trying to whisper, but I could hear her.

"Why would I do that?" Wolf-boy replied, somewhat sarcastically, "Oh, C'mon, Darling… what do you think his first move would be had you picked him?"

"I didn't. And I expect more from you, Sugar," Her voice went from stern to soft, "Meet up with you later?"

"We have the meeting at four," He replied.

"A movie after? My room – unless you've fixed your TV."

"There's no fixing that," He replied, "After dinner?"

"Give me a few minutes before hand?"

"Of course," He replied, then growled.

"You're so damn sexy."

Really? If only I'd growled at her more. I could feel my temper boiling, ready to fly off the handle, then I realized that she would be coming in soon. Odds were the Professor had her working as my nurse in the morning, hence the conversation just outside the room. I couldn't see them, but I was sure that I didn't want to.

"I'll see you later," I heard him whisper, then footsteps.

There was a minute's break, and Rogue was walking into the room, smiling brightly. I wanted to be happy for her, but all I wanted to do was chase Wolf-boy down the hall and show him exactly what my suit could do – or screw the suit, I'd handle him myself. But I couldn't do either, because my leg was all torn to shreds. I ran a hand back through my hair as she set breakfast down on the coffee table in front of me.

"How're you doing?" She asked.

"It hurts," I replied, "So did you have a nice little chat with Wolf-boy about why you want him and not me?"

"No, actually," She replied, "I cried, at him. I told him, but it wasn't happy, Tony. It was probably the hardest decision I've made."

"You sleep with him?"

She didn't answer, she didn't have to. I felt my heart sinking into the pit of my stomach. If only I had been able to chase after her last night. If only I had been able to show her how much I really do care about her. I knew my reputation, Wolverine had the unfair advantage here she would believe him when he said she was the only one – but was he really telling the truth? No one would know for sure until we found Jean.

"We're together, Tony."

"I don't like that," I said truthfully, "In fact, I hate that."

"I'm sorry, Tony," She continued and I rolled my eyes.

"We have to get to the danger room," I told her, turning and trying to hoist myself up.

"What, Tony – that leg has to get better…"

"It will," I said, "The Professor much have a spare wheel chair somewhere."

"Seriously?" She asked, "What do you have to do to it today that you can't do once you're feeling a little better?"

"The Professor stopped by and said all further training will be in there," I told her, "He did this, I will make him pay."

"He did what, your leg?"

Sure, let's go with that.

"Will you go get me a chair, or crutches, or something?" I asked, rather impatiently, and she got up and went.

I spent hours in the Danger Lab, wheeling around and making whatever modifications to the systems that I could. I wanted to make it perfect, I wanted to make it as realistic as being able to feel the breath of the opponents, the breeze. I wanted to make it strong enough to simulate what a class five mutant would be able to do, safely, of course. I wanted, for the first time really, to make it so that we would turn out on top. I wanted Rogue to be safe, I wanted her to have a chance to change her mind - and even if she didn't. But most of all I wanted Magneto to pay, I wanted him to pay for making me have to watch her walk away from me.

There were also perks to staying in there all morning, Rogue had to stay in there with me – she was terrified that I'd get hurt. And, unless I was completely off in my peripheral vision, and I really doubt I was, she was giving me quite the look over, with eyes I was sure her hairy clawed boyfriend would not appreciate. She offered to help where she could, but I could feel her watching me all the time that I was working.

"You have dirty in your eyes," I told her casually as I rolled from one circuit board to another.

"Tony," She replied sharply.

"It's you, not me," I replied, rolling back and looking her in the face, she was blushing.

"Can't you just cut me some slack? I can't turn off my feelings any more than I can turn off my skin."

"I can't," I said, almost sadly, "Until you look into my eyes and tell me that you have no feelings for me."

She didn't say anything, she didn't say anything for a long time. I saw a sort of weepy look starting about her, the last thing I wanted to do was make her cry. I had to say something else, and quick.

"You can turn off your skin, by the way," I told her, and she furrowed her brow.

"Only when I drink that crap you made me."

"That crap I made you?" I replied, "It's Blue Curacao, mostly."

"What?"

"I was talking to the Professor and he said that all you needed was to relax and believe you could do it," I told her, "As crappy and corny as that is. I even watered it down and mixed in some lemon juice."

"Seriously?"

"Yep," I said, rolling over back to my work, "You can run off and tell your Wolverine, I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"That's unfair, Tony."

"What's unfair?" I asked, but I didn't wait for an answer, I wheeled myself out into the hallway to work on some wiring.

"What's up?" I heard Rogue say, after I'd been out there a while.

"Scotty-boy doesn't remember anything we didn't already know," Wolverine's voice replied, seriously? How the hell did he know exactly when to show up, "Is somethin' wrong, Darlin'?"

"I'm just a little out of it," She replied, and I smirked – I had gotten to her.

A/N: Hey guys, been a little while… hope you liked the chapter, and if you did – leave me a review please :) It's always great hearing from you all… the next chapter's back to Rogue's Point of View, and we'll see what's going on with her…


	8. Promises

Double Dilemma

Chapter Eight – Promises

I walked into my room exhausted nearly a week after Logan and I had become a couple. We had been training, vigorously – and I felt like if I sat down for a minute that I would pass right out. Scott and Tony both had recovered enough to continue training, and sparring with them took a lot out of me. Particularly Tony, who I knew wouldn't really hurt me – but ever since I had chosen Logan he seemed hell bent on his training. The determination that he had was undeniably one of the hottest things I had ever witnessed. I walked over to my dresser and changed quickly into my pajamas, not bothering with a lot of other bedtime prep. I was about to head for my temperament ball, the ball I used to measure how well I was controlling my powers.

I still hadn't told Logan about what Tony had said about controlling my powers. It wasn't that I was hiding it from him, I just wanted to be able to fully control it before I told him about it. Tony's Faux serum, and knowing that it was faux gave me the confidence to do a lot better where myself training was concerned. I was just about ready, the only problem was – I wanted everything to be perfect by the time I told Logan what I could do. I wanted him to be able to touch me, hold me, kiss me, whenever he wanted. I didn't want him to have to worry about anything – I wanted us to be able to be together without either of us worrying about being hurt.

I had gone so far as, the night before, sleeping cuddled around it to make sure that my control over my powers stayed safely through the night. I wanted to do it again before letting Logan know – but at the same time all I wanted was for him to hold me, all night. But how was I supposed to tell him? He had been great all week – not even asking about how it was going once.

"Darlin?" Logan asked, I jumped and put the ball down as he knocked and walked in.

"Hey, Sugar," I smiled sheepishly as I went over and sat on the bed.

"Everything ok?" He asked, "You took off right after dinner."

"Everything's fine," It took me a minute to respond, he hadn't taken off his suit yet – Damn he looked sexy all up in leather – still all sweaty from that day, "I'm just tired, I was going to try and get to bed early."

"Was?" He asked, noticing the look in my eyes – closing the door behind himself as he took another step in.

"C'mere, Logan," I requested, leaning back on the bed, and he went and sat on the end.

I got what he was doing, he didn't want to be all gross on my bed, and I smiled slightly. I sat up, so that I was closer to him. I looked up into his face, and couldn't stand it one more minute. All I wanted was him, everything about him. His hair was pushed just about everywhere from training, and he had a little soot on his cheek – but it was all adding to his already overtly attractive features. I leaned in and kissed him, passionately, wrapping my arms up around his neck. He put a hand up on my arm and held me tight, so much so that I purposefully picked myself up and settled myself into his lap. He was kissing me back as if he hadn't been able to kiss me in years, instead of a few days.

"Marie," He breathed as I pulled my head away, "You figured it out…"

"I had a little help," I didn't really want to get into the specifics right then, "But yes."

"Let me run and take a shower, then I'll be back?" he asked and I pressed myself back up to him, kissing him soft and slow.

"You most certainly don't have to," I replied, kissing his forehead as I eased up on him.

"I'd feel a lot more comfortable," He told me, running one finger down the side of my cheek adoringly – once he pulled his hand away, I managed a pout, "What's the matter?"

"I'll be lonely," I replied and I could just see his heart melting in his eyes.

"Well, what do you suggest I do then?" He leaned in and kissed me playfully.

"Use my shower," I replied, and then added – shocking even myself, "And take me with you."

"Shit, kid," He growled low in his chest as he picked me right up in his arms – carrying me to my bathroom.

I giggled as he turned the water on, and he walked over to pull my shirt off over my head. I was standing in front of him in my bra, and he took me into his arms, kissing me carefully as he pulled me into his chest. I brought my hands up and caught hold of the zipper near his Adams Apple.

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" He asked, and my only response was to kiss him seductively – which he took as a yes.

The next morning Logan and I were late for our danger room training. The Professor's budding plan of attack was to use us to distract, and battle Jean – Pheonix – what was the difference? This phoenix sounded like a bitch, which wasn't far from my general impression of Jean. Anyways, The plan was for Warren, Logan, Tony, Scott, and I to distract her with battle while the Professor attempted to disarm her brain – in theory it was plausible – but for some reason something told me it was going to be a lot more difficult to actually put the plan into action. Particularly if Magneto wasn't being compliant.

"He's cracked," Tony complained loudly as Logan and I approached the door – where everyone else was waiting and where the Professor left instructions for the day.

"What's going on?" I asked Warren as we stopped next to him, Scott and Tony were still glaring at the list.

"The Professor assigned sparring partners for the day," He replied, mostly to me.

"He put Fur face, myself, and Lazer-dork in the same group," Tony said, clearly having heard Warren filling us in.

"It makes sense," Scott said, doing a double take, Logan was usually the one calling him Lazer-boy, "Rogue and Wolverine have been sparring buddies all week – and we can't expect them to actually get a full work out in while sparring each other. They go soft on each other."

"I go harder on her than I would anyone else," Logan spoke up, he was just as angry at the situation as Tony, "I know what's at stake if she's not ready."

"He gave a list for the entire week," Scott piped up, "You two aren't together again til next week. C'mon, it's only til lunch – let's go. Split up."

"I swear sometimes the professor does this shit out of morbid curiousity," I hissed to Warren as we walked over to our own space within the danger room.

"It sucks, but he means well," Warren replied, "It can't hurt to let them get a few punches in anyways…"

"Logan—"

"Has healing factor, and will be fine with whatever Stark throws at him."

"Tony," I stopped.

He was the one I was more worried about. Logan was tough skinned to begin with, his healing factor made him all but unbeatable – so I really wasn't concerned for his safety in a little sparring match. I didn't want him to get hurt – he could still feel the pain as it happened – but for some reason I wasn't all too concerned. I was, however, terrified for Tony. He was cocky, and mad – he would pick a real fight with Logan, one that he had no reasonable chance of winning, over even really surviving. Logan would tear him up at the first chance and half assed reason Tony gave him to get violent.

"What about him?"

"Nothing," I replied, and Warren gave me a knowing look.

"And I'm supposed to get a real training session with you?"

"Well two fourths of the men in this room have or are in love with you," He said, "And the other alternative, Logan would never let you near – so here I am…"

"Fine," I said, "Let's go."

I sparred with Warren, but Logan really hadn't been holding back on me – at all. Sparring with Warren, though I loved him dearly, wasn't nearly as hard of work as sparring with Logan. It was good though, I was able to keep an eye on Logan, Tony, and Scott. Tony kept running off his mouth – and I could hear him across the room. I had exchanged looks with Logan several times, and from his expressions I could tell that it was taking all of self-control not to attack him, and that he wasn't for my benefit.

"Break's over, c'mon guys," I heard Scott, and Logan and I snapped out of our gaze across the room.

This was when I noticed Tony, he had his suit off, for sparring – so that he would be able to move easier. He was in a tank top and green cargo shorts. He looked, honestly, ridiculously attractive – his hair was wet with sweat, and it was starting to drip down the side of his face. He looked over at me and I adverted my gaze I hadn't been looking at him, ogling him – it was more of a glance then I was headed back to my own sparring with Warren. However, I could feel his eyes still on me as I turned – then a thud.

I turned around and saw them both on the ground. Logan was on top of Tony, beating the living crap out of Tony. Scott, Warren, and I froze for a minute, then I ran to them. They were now rolling around on the ground – each getting a few punches in. I got up right to where they were, and I didn't know what to do – at all. I looked to Scott for help, and he and Warren started to jog over – just as Logan's claws popped out between his knuckles.

"Logan!" I screamed as Scott jumped onto Logan's back – pulling him as best he could away from Tony – who was more than worse for wear.

He scrabbled to his feet and attempted to brush himself off, but there was a drop of blood on the side of his forehead, and it looked like his tank-top had had a slight brush with Logan's claw. It was ripped down the side, with a little bit of blood coming through it. I wasn't a full out wound, so that meant that Logan hadn't actually meant to use his claws on Tony. Which was good, at least a little bit. Logan, of course, looked absolutely perfect – his healing factor protecting him from showing anything. His shirt had a few tears in it, showing off his amazing abs. My whole body went up in goose bumps. Scott was still holding onto Logan, whose claws were now safely away. Tony went to go up to him, but Warren caught him and held him back, and I was still standing in the middle.

"What the hell's gotten into you guys?!" Scott was the first one to speak.

"I hate the way he looks at her," Logan spat, and I took a step back.

"So you always solve your problems with your fists?" Tony shot back, "And how about how I feel about you looking at her?"

"She's my girl," Logan shot back, "I'll look at her however the fuck I want."

"Seriously?!" I yelled, loud enough to get both their attention, "Grow the hell up, both of you!"

I didn't even know what to say, and I stormed out of the room. I was so furious I couldn't even look at either of them as I went off, I left the danger room without even a thought to where I was going to go. I didn't get very far down the hallway towards the outside door when I heard Logan – apparently Scott had let him chase after me.

"Marie."

"I don't want to see you right now, Logan," I stopped mid-hallway, not daring to turn around, not wanting to see him.

"Marie, please," I could feel his hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry – I lost it."

"Clearly," I replied, coolly, "How's Tony?"

I knew it was in bad taste, to ask just as he was admitting to losing it – but I was genuinely worried.

"He'll be fine," Logan replied gruffly.

"I need a while to myself Logan," I told him, "I'll see you later."

I walked away from him, and it hurt so much I could feel my heart breaking. How could he do that? He knew, he knew the situation – he knew how hard it was. The whole situation, he knew exactly what was going on – he knew it wasn't something that I could turn off right away – that I was working on it. That I genuinely wanted him, for the rest of my life – I wanted Logan. It didn't matter – Tony – he didn't really matter. He did, he was a person – but Logan was my person. I was never one to believe that there was just one person out there for everyone, just that some were lucky enough to meet the one person that they could be with forever. I just never could have imagined what would happen if someone were cursed just enough to meet two. One, clearly inferior, clearly not their person – but enough to cause a problem, I assumed that this was it, basically. It broke my heart, but Tony had to go. He couldn't – until we found Jean – but once he did, that was it. I couldn't hurt Logan, or him – ever again. If only that were possible. If I wasn't hurting Logan, I was hurting Tony, and vice a versa.

I took a deep breath, and let a few tears fall as I walked outside. I went over and sat on the porch to the mansion. I couldn't make this right. I laid down, unable or unwilling to sit any longer. I closed my eyes, and let myself fall asleep for a while, letting the sun fry me as it willed for a bit. I woke up a few minutes later, with Logan lying beside me, watching me carefully. I took a deep breath and rolled over and wrapped my arms around him, he put his arms around me too, holding me tight.

"I'm sorry, Darlin'," He said, leaning down and kissing my temple, "Forgive me?"

"I love you," I replied, "You're already forgiven."

"Good," He smirked as I snuggled up closer to him – looking around to make sure no one was around, which they weren't.

I put my hand up on his chest, then trailed it down his muscular structure and stopping at his pants line. Damn it was good to be in his arms. He was mine, and I was his – there was something almost primal to it. He ran his hand up and down my back soothingly.

"Everything ok, Darlin'?" He asked and I nodded, looking up into his eyes.

"Right now?" I rubbed the side of my face into his facial hair affectionately, "I couldn't imagine one thing in the world being out of place."

"Do you ever wish I was him?" He asked, a new level of vulnerable for him, "I know that this is hard for you, and I know this is an impossible situation. And I absolutely can't stand the way you look at him, Marie. I saw you – watching him earlier. I know it's not – the same – but for you – I just need to know. Do you?"

"Never, Logan," I told him, slipping onto my side and running my hand through his hair, "I love you, more than I could ever hope to explain to you. Logan, I'm going nuts here, trying to make sure everything's ok. I want you, I love you more than anyone else on the planet - but I don't want him to be hurt. I want him to be happy, and yes, I have feelings for him – but he can't make me happy. Not the way you can, I want you more than anything, Logan. You're the love of my life – I'm not going anywhere – I won't. I don't ever even want to leave your arms."

"Marie," He breathed, clearly not angry about what I'd said, "Why me?"

"Because I don't ever want to have to think about living without you," I replied, "I don't want anyone else – if I had my way we would go off on some little island off by ourselves for the rest of our lives."

"Ok," Logan replied, leaning in and kissing me softly, "I can wait it out. You waited for me long enough."

"I love you," I kissed him again.

"Come with me tonight?" He asked and I narrowed my gaze at him, "I have a fight. I want you there."

"Logan."

"Please, Marie," He was just about pleading now.

"Ok," I took a deep breath, if he could deal with this – I could deal with whatever the fight entailed.

A/N: hey guys sorry this took so long... hope you liked it... leave a review, if you feel so inclined... and hopefully the next chapter won't take so long :)


	9. Saturday Night

A/N: So this chapter's almost purely Rogan… and was a lot of fun to write – so I hope you guys all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it….

Double Dilemma

Chapter Nine – Saturday Night

I kissed Logan one more time before I got up, and announced that I was going to go take a shower. If I was going to go to his fight, and potentially deal with the blond bimbos all over my man – I was going to be the hottest girl in that bar. I surprised even myself with this thought, I wasn't usually like that at all - that determined. What it really boiled down to was this: Logan was going to be the hottest man in the bar – Logan was always going to be the hottest man anywhere he went. And while I'm still able to, before I get old and wrinkly and everyone wonders why he's bringing grandma around with him – I should at least try to seem like I was good enough – pretty enough – for him.

I threw on my favorite new pair of shorts, they fit me perfectly and I smiled as I looked down at them. They were the perfect length, short, but not quite short enough to be considered at all trashy. There was a fine line sometimes, but I was going for hot, not to just join the ranks of the sluts that spent all their time in those bars. I went into my closet and found a cute halter top, Warren and I had gone shopping shortly after I had figured out that I could control my skin. I wasn't much of a shopper, but luckily Warren was about eight steps ahead of me the entire way. I slipped on a pair of strappy sandals and went to the mirror. I put on just a little bit of makeup and fixed my hair, leaving it down – the way Logan liked it. Then, I grabbed my purse and headed out of my room.

My plan was to stop by and check in on Tony before I went out to the garage to meet Logan. I was worried about him, he was in awful shape when I had stormed out, I just wanted to make sure he was being taken care of. I wasn't even sure that I was going to let him know that I showed, I would just peak in and make sure he was looking a little better – hopefully he would be sleeping anyways.

I stopped a few feet from the door of his room in the infirmary, mostly because I heard voices. It seemed as though Storm was taking care of him – good.

"Ow," I heard Tony complain angrily, "You know, I want my old nurse back."

"We didn't think that would be the best idea," Storm retorted, "Seeing as you and her boyfriend can't seem to get along, "Besides she ran, she wouldn't even let Wolverine go after her really."

"There's trouble in paradise?" Tony seemed hopeful.

"I doubt there's any serious trouble," Storm told him, "Once you have a guy like Logan….The way she has him… Anyways, he's not the type of guy a girl lets go of if you can help it."

"You too huh?" Tony sounded like he couldn't believe his eyes, "What is it about him that has all you women all wanting him?"

"He's simple," Storm told him, "Sure he's a guy – if he's not with someone he's going to go off and be a guy. But once he's found his girl, which he has in Rogue – everyone's just been waiting for it. He hasn't really gone out all summer, and the last half of the last school year – he's done. You can see it in his eyes, he's done with Rogue. And I don't want him, Stark – he's Rogue's. I want my version of him, if he's out there – somewhere."

"I could be that type of guy again," Tony mumbled.

"What?" Storm asked.

"Nothing."

"Anyways, you're lucky," Storm continued, "You've got a few lacerations, and a couple bruised ribs but nothing compared to what you could have. What did you do to piss Wolverine off? And why would you do it without your suit on?"

"I was checking Rogue out," He replied.

"Wolverine's a feral, you do remember that, don't you?"

"I don't expect you to understand, Storm," He said, "It's crazy, irrational, she has him. She doesn't want me, she's made that abundantly clear – I just, I can't stop thinking about her. I know she's not mine – I know she likely won't ever be – but I have so many plans for the two of us."

"You better not talk like that around Wolverine."

"I won't," He replied, somewhat sad sounding, "Has she been down to check on me yet?"

"What makes you think she will?"

"I don't know – just something."

I looked down, this outfit wasn't meant for him – it was meant for Logan. Coming to see Tony, especially dressed like this – no matter where I was going afterwards was not going to help anything. Sure, Tony would be hurt that I didn't come and check on him – but maybe that was the lesser of two hurts. Maybe that was the way to go. This way, it's not as blatant as if I were to have to vocally tell him later down the line. It was being a tease to see him tonight. I headed back towards the Mansion, back towards the garage.

I walked in the open garage door and saw Logan already sitting on his bike. He wasn't facing me, so he couldn't see me, but I could sure as hell see him. He always looked good straddling his bike, he reached back and ran his hand through his hair and I could feel my heart swell in my chest. I took a deep breath and started walking towards him, he heard me walking and turned. A devilish smile on his face, and eyes filled with lust as he watched me walk over. I thought my knees were going to give out before I even had a chance to make it to the bike.

"Hey, sugar," I smiled and he just blinked as I sat myself down on the back of the bike, nearly in his arms.

"Mmm," He whined as he pressed his lips to the side of my head, "My Marie, I don't know that I want to bring you anymore."

"Why is that?" I leaned back, away from him – taking him seriously, and I realized I shouldn't have when he smiled.

"Because, my Darlin'," He smiled, "The way you look – so sexy – this evening. I don't want to share you with anyone, much less anyone who might be hanging around tonight. The way they'll look at you – for my eyes only."

"Or," I smiled, leaning in and kissing him softly, "You take it in stride. There are definitely parts of me that are for your eyes only – but sugar, I'd much rather be on your arm all evening – with no one daring a glance anyways."

"You'll stay by my side all evening?"

"Sugar, I'll be by yourside til the day I die. "

He seemed to like that answer, kissing me deeply as he ran his hand down my side. He pulled away slowly, and then reached forwards to grab my helmet for me. He kissed my forehead, then slipped it onto my head, sliding down the eye shield – then he shimmied out of his leather jacket. He put it on me, carefully threading my arms through the sleeves and pulling it tight around me.

"Sugar."

"It'll get cold once we're going," He told me, turning around and grabbing the handle bars as I wrapped my arms around his middle, "I think I like it better on you anyways."

With that, he kick started the bike and carefully backed out of the garage. Logan had been right, with the wind whipping around me, the temperature dropped very quickly. I held onto Logan as tightly as I could as he drove – slightly slower than I was used to seeing him take off – towards the closest little town to the mansion – which was still quite a few miles away. He pulled right up to the front row of a small, hole-in-the-wall type bar on the outskirts of the town. There were a line of other motorcycles – and a couple of trucks in the row behind us. He hopped off, and then helped me off as well.

"You can leave the helmet here," He smiled, pulling it off over my head, and putting it on the handlebars, "No one'll touch it."

"I love you," I smiled up at him and grinned, running his hands over my hair to fix it from the helmet.

"You make me the happiest I remember being, kid," He smiled, pulling a cigar out of the pocket of the jacket I was wearing.

"You can have it back now," I took it off and handed it to him, he draped it over his shoulder as he lit the cigar.

"C'mon, darlin'," He ushered me towards the front door to the bar.

It was loud, there was hillbilly style rock-n-roll playing out of some dusty speakers – then there were people yelling over that. The whole place was a bit dusty, and actually the sort of place someone might expect to find Logan, especially if they didn't know him all that well. There was an old TV behind the bar that had some twenty-four hour new station playing in the background without anyone paying attention to it. There were peanut shells everywhere, and all the tables were pushed to the sides of the bar, a giant caged ring was constructed in the center of the room – complete with two large men already duking it out. The whole place was crammed with people, I had to just about cling to Logan to make sure that I didn't get swept up in the crowd. Though that soon was a wasted fear – the men kept fighting – but a large section of the crowd went semi-silent once they saw Logan.

"C'mon, Marie," He whispered in my ear as he held onto my hand just a little bit tighter – leading me up to the bar.

"Hey, Jim," He greeted the bartender, a nearly toothless man in his late forties – who grinned just seeing him.

"'ey, Danny-boy," Jim said, "Where you bin? It's been a while since you've made it down."

"I've been a little busy," Logan replied, leaning over and kissing my temple – showing me off – I blushed.

"I bet you have," Jim chuckled, "What's 'er name, boy?"

"This is my girl, Layla," Logan told him – Jim didn't seem to realize that was the song that was playing in the background, "Do me a favor and tell your bouncers to keep an eye on her while I'm in there, ok?"

"I don't think I'll have to ask very hard," Jim replied – and Logan nodded icily, then led me away to a table near the cage.

"Danny?"

"What's the matter?" He asked, sitting down – and pulling me down into his lap, and his arms, "I don't look like a Danny?"

"No, you do," I smiled as I leaned down and kissed him, "But why the secrecy?"

"Wolverine attracts too much attention nowadays," Logan said, "It's been all over the news, and most house rules exclude all mutants. And I don't use Logan because you and the professor are the only ones that are remotely allowed to call me that – well you're pretty much allowed to call me anything you want."

"Why're you so different with me?" I asked him, "You act different – a lot different when everyone's watching. It's always been that way though-"

"Marie," He took a deep breath, looking down at me lovingly, "I put up with a lot more from you than I would from anyone else – and you're right – it has always been that way. And I do, act a lot different when it's just the two of us somewhere, or just the two of us anywhere. It's because with you it's always much easier to just be – I trust you – I don't have to be on guard or anything when it comes to you. You come easy to me – always have. Because, Marie – you're my mate. I hid it from you, which is unforgivable – but you were a child, I couldn't put that on you. I wanted you to choose to be with me, not because you thought that was what you had to do. That it was somehow your responsibility to fill that role."

"I'm your—"

"All feral have them, something just clicks in our brains once we meet the person we're supposed to be with, stay with, protect, and love forever," He said, "And it happened – right away – with you. You were sitting in that bar and I knew it."

"You tried to leave me in that bar."

"You were sixteen," He replied, "And I figured if it was meant to be you'd find me later."

"Or I'd find you then."

"Yeah," He said, kissing the side of my neck.

"What about all the women?"

"What women?" He asked, "I haven't actually been _with_ anyone else since before I met you. At fights, they were there but none of 'em really interested me at all. I wouldn't be able to do nothing without feeling guilty about it anyways."

"So why did it take you this long to tell me?"

"I wasn't sure I was ever going to," He kissed my forehead, "I thought it would be obvious to you if you ever found out about the whole concept—"

"Danny- Boy!" Jim called as the two previous fighters finished up, and he was escorting one of them out of the ring, "You're up."

The crowd roared, and I slipped out of his lap. He stood up and set his jacket on the table. He took the hem of his shirt and pulled it off over his head, setting his muscular torso free. He wrapped his arms around me quickly, and leaned in for a good, passionate, good-luck kiss as the whole bar jeered. He kissed my forehead, handed me his shirt and then made to walk over into the cage. I stopped him, grabbing his arm and he let me pull him back towards me just so that I could put a tiny kiss on the center of his chest.

"Good Luck," I smiled as he growled low in his chest – and broke away from my grip.

He walked into the cage to an increase in cheering, as I joined in, standing with his shirt over my shoulder. Jim grabbed his hand and rose it in the air to really get the crowd into it, but they were already about as loud as I could imagine them getting. I sat down as Jim had Logan shake hands with his apponent.

"Your luck's about to change, Danny," The fighter said as he bounced around him, and Logan nodded.

"Is it?" He asked, then threw one punch – not nearly as hard as he could .

It landed straight to the other man's gut, where he doubled over, and just about collapsed onto the mat. The crowd went wild, and I wondered for a moment if they would be at all as impressed if they knew that Logan - Danny – was working with pure adamantium fists. Either way, he was gorgeous, and he was taking down every opponent that he came up against, letting each one go just a little bit longer than the guy before them – just as to not raise suspicion.

"And for the last fight of the night," Jim hopped back in the ring, using the cordless microphone, and letting the last opponent out of the cage as I walked over to Logan and gave him some water, "Do we have any contenders?"

"I'll take a swing," A big lumber-jack of a man started making his way towards the ring, and blew me a kiss as he passed – I could feel Logan tense up behind me – this was not going to be good.

"Ok, then," Jim said as Logan returned to the center to greet the new opponent.

Jim made them shake, and money once again went everywhere. The whole betting system made me a little uneasy. How upset would these people be if they figured out Logan was a mutant? That all those people who had been losing betting against him had been set up? I shivered, I knew it wouldn't be good. But I trusted Logan, and figured that he knew the stakes of what he was doing.

He let this guy get a few punches in, and got in a few light – for him – ones. He was letting this go for a while – which surprised me thinking of the man's actions a shortly before the fight.

"Hm, you're not so tough, are you?" The man was starting to run his mouth, "You sorry excuse for a man. Maybe I can take that beauty off your hands, I'm sure she'll be delighted – to have a real man instead of such a showboating whipped-ass – oh she is pretty, if only you had the balls to do what I'd like to do to her –"

Logan stood up, out of his fighting stance and the whole bar went quiet. He pulled back one fist, and just let one go, a nearly full force, nearly lethal punch straight to the man's jaw. Within seconds the man was on the ground, out cold. Jim went over and rolled him over, a couple of the girls that hung around went over and checked him out. Logan didn't even wait for Jim to announce him the winner before he hopped out of the ring. The blonde bar-girls converged onto him as he walked out, and he waved them all off – walking over straight to me.

"C'mon, grab your stuff," He said, as I handed him his shirt, "We're getting out of here."

"Ok," I said as he pulled his shirt on, then went to help me into his jacket.

"He'll be around in a minute," Jim assured Logan as we walked over the the bar – where he had returned.

"I just need my pay," Logan said, "I think it'll be best if I get out of here before he comes to.

"Probably true," Jim said as he bent down behind the bar.

I looked towards the TV while Logan did his business. There seemed to be forrest fire in Northern California. From what I could gather over all the noise – it was giving locals, and local firefighters a lot of issues. The death toll at the bottom of the screen said it was up to twelve people.

"You ready, Darlin'?" Logan asked, tucking a white envelope into his jeans.

"Yeah," I replied, peeling my eyes from the TV to Logan and following him out of the bar.


	10. Something Amiss

Double Dilemma

Chapter Ten – Something Amiss

Tony.

It was late before Rogue and Wolverine got back. I was watching from my bedroom window, Scotch in hand. I watched as they pulled up on a motorcycle, and he helped her take her helmet off. I could see pretty clearly through the window as he leaned her back over the bike and kissed her – deeply, passionately – the way that I longed to kiss her. Her voice carried as she moaned, and I had to hobble over to shut my window – I couldn't take it. I couldn't take having to see her with him every day, day in and day out. But then again, I couldn't stay away from her. There was just something about her that drew me to her. She was with Wolverine, she was decidedly happy with him – but there was just something telling me over and over again that – I don't know – that she was – perfect. That I shouldn't give up, not that I wanted to – but because it wasn't over.

The other reality of my situation was that I was stuck at the mansion regardless of Rogue and Wolverine's status until we found Jean Grey, The Phoenix. Whatever was acceptable to call her, and I would have my day with Magneto. I had done my research, and was just starting to develop myself a different suit. It was hard without my home lab, but it was coming together nicely – on nights that I wasn't too exhausted from training. I watched like I was watching a car crash out the window, something I knew would hurt me to watch – but I couldn't pull my eyes away as Wolverine and Rogue grew tired of sucking face on the motorcycle and he was walking her into the mansion.

"Stark?" It was Storm, she hadn't been happy when I announced that I was going to sleep in my room for the night, "Are you ok?"

Did she mean that as I was standing in a dark room watching the love of my life make out with her love of her life? No, I wasn't ok – at all. I hid my glass in the curtains, and the bottle that was half gone with it.

"You're checking on me?" I asked, turning away from the window.

"Yes," She replied, "Why're you up? You should be resting."

"Rogue and her Wolvey just got back from their date," I said, making sure my voice sounded sarcastically sickeningly happy for them.

"Why would you do that to yourself?"

"Do what?" I asked, trying to avoid any deep conversations, "I'm thinking of getting a motorcycle – what do you think?"

"You won't be able to woo her away with a cooler bike, Stark," She pointed out, "I think you already knew that, though."

"She didn't even come to check on me," I said, in more a pondering state than anything else, "I thought she might."

"I think she's trying to let go of you, Stark," Storm replied as I sat down on my bed.

"She's letting me go?"

"She wants you to heal, she just wants to put a little distance," She said, "It must be hard, trying to keep both you and Wolverine happy. She's not the only girl in the world, you know."

I looked up from where I had been staring at the ground, and Storm had sat down on the bed next to me. I looked up at her, and she tucked a lock of my hair that had been in my face away – somewhere. She smiled softly.

"If that's what she wants," I said, and broke off – going into my own thoughts – barely aware that Storm was still in the same room.

She had been edging closer as I pondered what Rogue was doing – and why, if she was with Wolverine – I was having such a problem not wanting her. I wanted her to be happy, didn't I? I did. But for some reason I couldn't imagine her happy in any sort of future without me being there, with her – taking care of her. She was the only one I wanted, almost to the point where it didn't matter if she was with Wolverine – I would still love her – but it did. It did matter. All of a sudden, Storm was really close, and I jumped back in realization.

"What're you doing?" I asked and she took a step back, embarrassed.

"Sorry – it was stupid."

"Storm – I'm sorry," I felt bad for her, she was a good person – I just- "Rogue – she's…"

"She's who everyone wants," She was upset, clearly.

"Not everyone," I told her and she nodded – I sensed that she was going to be getting much more upset very quickly, "But she's the only one that I want."

I took a deep breath, and Storm sort of skirted out of the room, I assumed before she cried in front of me. I liked Storm, she was one of the very few decent people that I had come across, and a good friend. I felt bad, from my interactions with her – it was quite clear that she had been harboring her own little thing for the Wolverine too. Then, once he was with Rogue – she had started to change her focus onto me. And me, being in my awful and stupid state – I didn't really notice. I laid down on the bed, and just wanted to disappear.

"Tony?" There was a voice at the door that I would recognize anywhere.

My ears perked up instantaneously, but I managed to keep my composure as I sat up, and looked to the door. My room itself was pretty dark – but in the stream of light that was coming from the hall – I could see Rogue – standing in T-shirt and running shorts – her hair beautiful as always.

"What're you doing here?" I asked as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her, and I turned the light on the nightstand on so that I could keep my eyes on her.

"I came to see you," She replied softly, sitting on the foot of the bed, "I'm sorry I didn't come check on you earlier."

"You were busy – out with your Wolverine, right?"

"Tony – "

"What?"

The way she was looking at me, it made my skin burn hot, and only a fourth of it was anger. How could she treat me like this? Run off with her Wolverine, choose him so quickly over me – before she even really knew me. Then, come to my room this late, and look at me the way she was. The lust in her eyes wasn't something that was completely foreign, but what was she doing here? Why was she doing this? What Storm had said about her wanting to distance herself made sense – if she truly loved Wolverine – which I wouldn't be able to comprehend her actually doing in the first place – it hurt too much.

"Let me see your scars," She replied, "Show me what he did to you – and I'll show you what he's done to me."

It was a dangerous statement, and I had a feeling that if I were to show her, I would have quite a few more like it. But the way she was looking at me, in that moment – I didn't care. At this point, if Wolf-boy walked in I was screwed as it was – might as well see how far this would go. Wait a second – what had he done to her?

"Has he hurt you?" I asked, swallowing hard – I would kill him, I didn't care how impossible that statement was.

"Show them to me, Tony," Rogue encouraged, and I nodded.

"You wanna help me out?" I asked, raising my hands above my head – like a little kid.

"Of course," She replied, and was right up against me faster than I had thought possible for anyone to move.

She took the hem of the tank top I was wearing, and lifted it carefully, clearing my arms one at a time. She tossed my shirt to the side, setting it on the bed, as she traced some of the quickly scaring cuts on my torso and chest. The most noticeable was a long one that made a thin red line, a surface slice, from my right shoulder down across my left pectoral muscle, just under my chest magnet. She traced it with her finger, and it sent shivers down my spine, though not nearly as intensely as I thought it would be – but nonetheless a rush.

"Lay back," She whispered, her face sad as her eyes swiped down and registered where every scratch and gash was.

I did, she wasn't going to have to ask me twice. I watched through the dim light as she inspected just about every inch of me.

"I'm sorry about what he's done to you," She said, leaning down and kissing my chest.

"It's ok," I breathed, and she sat back up.

"No, it's not."

"Please don't be doing this because you're trying to fix something he's done," I told her, "I don't want any of this to have anything to do with him."

"It doesn't," She replied, "You have no idea how much I've been keeping myself back from you, Tony. I love you way more than you could ever know, or understand. I want you, Tony. I want you so bad it hurts me, every day I can't."

"And why can't you?" I asked her, taking her into my arms – and pulling her back to lay with me – which she gave right in to.

"It wouldn't end well," She replied, as I slipped my hand just under her shirt, and she allowed it.

Once I got my hand on her stomach, I knew what she had been hinting at. I could feel where I had always imagined smooth, soft, skin to be. It was full of marks, cuts so raised that I could feel them, and I sat up a little bit as I peeled her shirt up and over her head, so that she was lying in her bra beside me. Her torso was covered in cuts and bruises – like Wolverine had been using her as a practice dummy – and it made my blood boil.

"He did this to you?" I didn't even have to wait for an answer as I sat up, looking down at her, then leaned down to hover slightly over her, "May I?"

"Of course, babe," She replied and I kissed them all – every little scratch, cut, or bruise.

"I won't let him do this to you ever again," I whispered, ghosting around her ear, "Be mine, Rogue. I'll protect you from him. I'll take you away from here."

"I love you, Tony," She breathed back, her breath hitching under my touch, "I want you."

"Don't let this be about him," I said, my hands running softly around her core, up her neck.

"It's not," She assured me, her hand landing on my thigh, my flesh burning for her as she slipped her hand over to start unbuttoning my jeans.

"You're sure you want this?" I stopped her for a second, my hand on hers, only because I knew I had to – not because I wanted to.

"More than anything," She replied, and let go of her hand.

Rogue.

The morning after Logan's fight, I woke up early - with an eerie feeling running through my veins. Something that made all the hairs on my body stand up on end, and a shiver running continuously right through me. I didn't want to open my eyes yet, so I kept them closed – and snuggled in about as tight as I could to the warm body next to mine under the covers. I let my hand fall onto his chest and felt his arms wrap around me as if it were a reflex reaction. I nuzzled my face up on his chest and heard his deep, burly chuckle.

"Marie," He grumbled, and I looked up at him, popping my head up through the covers – we were in his room – it had been closer to where we had entered the mansion.

"Logan?" I smiled coyly up at him and he smirked.

"Good morning, Darlin'," He leaned down and kissed me softly as I rolled over so that I was simply lying on top of him comfortably, he chuckled as I buried my face into his chest, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know," I replied, "There's just something wrong. It woke me up – just this feeling I have."

"Well allow me to try and take it away for you?" He offered innocently as he leaned in and kissed me again.

"I love you," I beamed, reaching up and running my hand through his hair, "But really, something just doesn't feel right."

"We're not working our asses off in the danger room?" He asked as I fell back onto the pillow facing him again, "Professor gave us the morning off. And I vote, we spent the whole morning in bed."

It was hard to hold onto my bad feeling when logic like that was being tossed around. I snuggled myself up tight to him and looked out the window – it was barely light out.

"Do you think anyone's up?"

"No," He replied, watching me throw on one of his flannel shirts –which fell to my knees, "Why?"

"I can go get a change of clothes for today, and no one'll be any the wiser," I smirked and he smiled.

"You're not going anywhere like that," He put on his tough guy impersonation.

"And just what are you gonna do about it, sugar?"

I barely gave him any time to react as I opened the door and ran out into the hallway. I smiled at him from just the other side of the doorway, and he hopped out of bed, pulling on a pair of his boxers that had been strewn on the floor the night before. I looked down the hall and saw something that made the world seem to be put on pause. Tony was a little ways down the hall – only in his jeans – but that wasn't the weird part. In his arms, pinning him against the wall – was me. I was in a white cami and short silky PJ set, and I was making out with Tony – in the hall.

"This," Logan replied, scooping me up in his arms bridal style.

"Log-"

He set me down the second he spotted it, and set me down, very carefully on my feet. He gave me a look like 'stay right here' that he knew I wouldn't actually follow if it got to the point where I had to. He ran over to the – couple - claws drawn. He took – me – by the neck with his arms, and I started to scream.

"Let go, let go," My voice screamed, "Tony, babe, he'll hurt me again."

"Let go of her, hairball," Tony replied and Logan shook his head.

"I would never lay a hand on Rogue," Logan replied, raising a claw to Mystique's stomach.

"Get the fucking hell away from her!" Tony was about to hit his bracelets – and things were going to get very messy, very quickly.

"Tony!" I broke my silence, and he looked over at me, then back at Mystique.

"The Fuck?" Tony looked beyond confused.

"It's simple Stark," Logan growled, then leaned down to talk to Mystique, "Do you want another scar, or are you willing to just show yourself?"

"Tony, don't let him do this to me," Mystique-me said, "He'll hurt me again – I'm the real Rogue – not her. She's the imposter."

"Really?" Logan asked, "Then what, perchance did I tell her the first night that I told her I loved her?"

There was a silence, in which Mystique could not answer, and she returned to her blue state, realizing just how outnumbered she was. That was when I piped up.

"You told me to shut up," I said, "Among other things."

"Of all the things I said to you that night, you pick up on 'shut up'?" He shot me a look as Tony just still looked kind of shocked.

"You do have a way with women, Wolverine," Mystique felt brave, and Logan growled – angrily, not like the playful way he did with me.

'Stark, I'm delighted to inform you that the woman you were sucking the lips off of was in fact this wonderful shape shifting blue ball of sunshine," Logan, having addressed the immediate issue was now processing what he'd seen, "Not my girl. This one's name's Mystique, she's Magneto's girl."

"Oh, he did more than just suck face," Mystique was just trying to cause trouble, why else would she be here, "He got everything he wanted last night, didn't you babe? You just couldn't imagine the idea of Rogue being so sad, and the big bad Wolverine beating her up. You were going to take her away from everything, weren't you. Dream come true for you, huh lover-boy?"

"Enough," I finally spoke up, "Your despicable. This is a new low, even for you, Mystique."

I was blushing – I knew it, but for both of the men in front of me's sakes, I couldn't let her go on any further.

"What is going on here?! This is a school!" The professor wheeled up, obviously upset by the fact that we were all half-naked, "Rogue and Logan, I will not comment on what goes on between you behind closed doors - but honestly in the hallways? - Raven - Logan, What is the meaning of this?"

"It seems like Mystique here had a little fun with Stark last night," Logan was about to punch a wall, with Mystique still in fist, "In Rogue's body."

A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. Hopefully you're not all mad at me... hope you liked it :)


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